Recall of dangerous Samsung Galaxy Note 7 yields a half-million exchanges in US

Samsung has revealed that about half of the recalled Galaxy Note 7 phones sold in the U.S. have been exchanged for replacement units, as part of the company's voluntary recall on the phablets after reports of battery explosions and fires.

The recall began on Wednesday, causing Samsung to stop sales of the Galaxy Note 7 and replace a total of 2.5 million units worldwide — mostly in the United States.

Samsung said that 90 percent of Galaxy Note 7 owners have opted to receive the safer Galaxy Note 7 instead of a different model.

The timing of the recall could prove to be a boon for Apple. Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray believes the recall could provide a "slight tailwind" for iPhone 7 Plus sales, as the recall occurred right before the phone's launch of Apple's new 5.5-inch handset.

To move the launch of the Note 7 by 10 days to steal more of Apple's thunder, Samsung executives pushed suppliers into meeting faster deadlines despite the phone's significant feature advancements. It's believed the rush to market caused the serious safety issues.

One of the upgrades in the Note 7 is a 3,500 milliamp-hour battery, up from the previous Note's 3,000. Samsung has indicated that a production error has caused the battery fires.

31 Comments

coolfactor 20 Years · 2341 comments

About 8 years ago

People will continue to blindly purchase Samsung devices, ignorant to the business practices of that company.

Soli 9 Years · 9981 comments

1) The recall only began 2 days ago? Is there some different between a technical and official recall that I'm not aware of? I could have sworn this was being recalled weeks ago.

2) What kind of dummy would keep this device? Maybe someone that likes to collect unique gadgets, and a full recall of a massive failure, might qualify for their island of misfit toys, but I sure hope those customers aren't using this phone for their sake and the sake of everyone else around them.

sog35 said:

They claim that 90% of Note7 owners decided to get another Note7 instead of a refund. No way that's true.

The article doesn't say they had an option for a refund, but for "a different model." The Note line is the most expensive model, partly due to the included digitizer, so a different Galaxy phone would just be a lesser product. If you can get a refund, that can be tricky as you need to keep a receipt, and I have a feeling that many Android owners don't keep receipts so that automatically drops the percentage down a bit out of the gate.

jkichline 14 Years · 1369 comments

"...opted to receive the **safer** Galaxy Note 7"

Safer.

So, it's not completely safe then, Samsung?

mknelson 9 Years · 1148 comments

jkichline said:

"...opted to receive the **safer** Galaxy Note 7"

Safer.

So, it's not completely safe then, Samsung?

Well, you might walk into an open manhole while taking a selfie. :o