Samsung announced on Thursday that the new Galaxy Note 7 replacement program will be available in the U.S. in most retail stores no later than September 21.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a brief statement that they were working on an official recall but the delay shouldn't stop users from powering down the affected phones immediately.
Elliot Kaye, CPSC chairman announced more details today in a press conference that he is "urging all consumers to take advantage of this recall right away." The announcement was made to prevent possible accidents caused by the explosion of the smartphone.
"Consumers should immediately stop using and power down the recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices," and contact the location where the handset was bought and get either a new device Note 7, a refund or a new replacement device, said in the recall notice.
"Consumer safety is always our highest priority," Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America, said in his statement. "Our collaboration with the CPSC to fast-track a voluntary recall in the US addresses safety concerns by ensuring we reach Note 7 owners quickly to exchange their devices."
Samsung launched its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in late August to many salutes and overall promising reviews and evaluations, but users quickly perceived some glitches with the device. Specifically, a "battery cell issue" instigated some Note 7 units to overheat and explode. Airlines have also prohibited customers from using their devices on flights. Up to date, there have been 92 phones which overheated and exploded resulting 26 burns and 55 cases of property damage.
After the different cases, Samsung made the unprecedented declaration to recall every single unit of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold worldwide. That is about 1 million of the 2.5 million that were manufactured. The company stopped all sales and shipments of the Note 7 and said they were working with government agencies and cellular carriers around the world to provide refunds and exchanges for the phone.
It is expected that after the recall of all the devices, there will be no more overheating and explosion issues of the device, but for now, users should do what is right to avoid accidents that may occur from the faulty battery of the Note 7.
