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Remember the Samsung Galaxy Note 7? How could you not, it was the most talked about device of 2017 for all of the wrong reasons – its dangerously combustable battery led to the company recalling it twice and ceasing sales of it altogether. Well, according to Korean news outlet Hankyung, the company is reportedly gearing up to sell the refurbished phones with smaller and less… explosive components.
It doesn’t look like they will be headed to the west though, especially considering the amount of bans enforced by regulators. Instead, these devices with smaller batteries could be headed to India or Vietnam says the Korean source.
The report goes on to say that Samsung has roughly 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 devices left over on the scrap heap – and this is after the firm used about 20,000 in testing to confirm that the phones’ batteries were the cause of fires. Apparently these refurbished devices will have new cases, and their batteries will have a capacity of between 3,000 and 3,200 mAh (decreased from their initial 3,500 mAh capacity).
According to the report, Samsung has some 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s left over after using 20,000 or so up in testing to determine the cause of the problem. The refurbished devices will have new cases, and batteries with a capacity between 3,000 and 3,200mAh (the phones initially contained a 3,500mAh battery).
This new report supports the news that was first reported by Reuters last month that Samsung was considering selling refurbished devices.ZDNet Korea has also reported the news, saying that it could be a solution to help the company avoid any controversy with the government over the junking of the unused and returned phones.
This news comes a day after it emerged that Samsung’s US reputation has plummeted after the way the Galaxy Note 7 controversy was handled, and the arrest of chief Lee Jae-young. In 2015, Harris Poll ranked Samsung as having the third best reputation in the country. A year later, the firm dropped down to seventh place, and now in 2017 it finds itself at number 49.
