Samsung to recall 2.5 million Note 7s
By Kim Tae-gyu
Samsung Electronics plans to recall around 2.5 million units of Galaxy Note 7s amid continued reports of the model exploding while charging, the tech giant’s mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said at a press conference Friday.
Shipments of the popular jumbo phones will be stopped and the global release would also be delayed -- the model was released on Aug. 19 in 10 countries including Korea, China and the United States.
“As of Sept. 1, 35 claims of explosion were registered at home and abroad via service centers. Merely 24 on a scale of 1 million were affected by the battery problem. Our close examination showed that there were some faults in battery cells,” Koh said.
“We will let our global customers exchange their Note 7 products for new ones and will ship back all the phones held by our partners and sales outlets... The total number would be around 2.5 million.”
New replacements will be available in around two weeks. The specific date differs by country. For Korea, the date is Sept. 19. Sales of the large-screen phones to the general public will resume only after the replacements are furnished.
Koh said that Samsung has yet to decide how to deal with millions of the collected
devices. One option is to recycle them after fixing the faults but Koh refused to specify.
Whatever the plan would be, the unprecedented recall is expected to cause financial damage to the company. Koh said that the cost would be painfully high but the safety of customers is a priority.
“Up until now, there have been no cases where people were hurt. But there is a possibility,” he said. “This is not about money. This is about people’s safety, product quality and customer satisfaction.”
Asked whether Samsung would refund customers, Koh said that the firm will do so in Korea but did not elaborate on the refunding policies outside of the country.
“Under Korean law, buyers of new handsets can get refunded in two weeks.
Through talks with mobile carriers, we plan to extend the period to show we are responsible,” he said.
“Our customers also can get other latest products like the Galaxy S7 in return for the Note 7 right away.”
Koh apologized twice for the flaw while adding that he would delve into the company’s procedures of procuring components in order to prevent recurrence of any similar mishaps.
Reports first appeared last week that handsets burst into flames while charging and similar claims followed over the past few days, which prompted Samsung to inspect the new phone.