Galaxy Note Fan Edition to hit shelves

SK Telecom models promote Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note Fan Edition (FE) smartphones available for sales on Friday here. The device is priced at 699,600 won ($606.34), down 30 percent from the price of the Note 7 last year. / Courtesy of SK Telecom

By Lee Min-hyung

Repackaged Galaxy Note 7 smartphones will go on sales Friday, with Samsung Electronics equipping the device with a safe battery and updated software.

Only 400,000 units of the device, called the Galaxy Note Fan Edition (FE), will be available, according to the nation’s three mobile carriers. It is priced at 699,600 won ($606.34), down about 30 percent from 988,900 won of the Note 7, the sales of which were scrapped last year over its battery problems.

Samsung downsized the battery capacity for the repackaged device. This comes as part of the firm’s efforts to enhance hardware safety to avoid a recurrence of last year’s unprecedented handset recall over continuing reports of battery fires.

The company also added a series of updated functions to the device, including the artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistant, Bixby. The Galaxy Note FE also comes with the same user interface as the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus that were introduced this year.

The Note FE is available in four colors — gold platinum, silver titanium, blue coral and black onyx.

Samsung has yet to decide whether to sell the repackaged Note devices overseas.

The Note 7 made its debut in mid-August last year, but Samsung soon scrapped its production and sales for good due to faulty batteries.

Even after the company offered refunds to the Note 7 users, international environmental bodies have called for the company to recycle the parts used for the handset.

“Greenpeace welcomes Samsung’s decision to launch the repackaged Note 7, but the company needs to unveil a specific plan over how it will recycle parts for the remaining Note 7s,” said Lee Hyun-sook, Greenpeace East Asia senior global campaigner.

In March, Samsung said it would sell repackaged Note 7 phones, in response to growing calls to deal with the ill-fated handsets in an environmentally-friendly way. For its launch in overseas markets, the company said nothing has been confirmed due to regulations from each country.

At that time, Samsung unveiled its plan to sell some Note 7 parts, such as camera modules and chips, which can be recycled for test materials. The company also pledged to extract metals and metal compounds including copper, nickel, gold and silver from the stockpile of more than four million Note 7 devices to recycle them.

Samsung Electronics is expected to launch its latest Note series, the Galaxy Note 8, next month.

“Even though the Note FE comes about a month or two before the launch of Samsung’s new flagship Note series, the repackaged device is expected to go out of stock soon after its debut, due to the popularity of the Note series here,” a mobile industry source said.