Samsung will have enough Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in stores Wednesday to supplant half of the gadgets recalled for a battery issue. Stores will have replacements for the remaining affected phones by the end of the month. The South Korean company on Tuesday stated that 500,000 replacement devices have arrived in the U.S. and have been transported to carrier and retail stores. Around 1 million Note 7 units had been recalled in the country.
Huge improvement in the recall mission
"New devices will be in stores no later than tomorrow and we will continue to take the necessary actions to ensure users are powering down and immediately exchanging recalled devices," Tim Baxter, CEO, Samsung Electronics America, said in an announcement.
The company likewise said about 25% of Note 7 owners in the US have traded their devices, up from 13 percent a week ago when Samsung began making replacements available.
Exchange your faulty Note 7 now
It added that the "vast majority" of people trading their Note 7 phones have settled on another Samsung Galaxy smartphone instead of a refund. Samsung launched its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in late August to much fanfare and overall favorable reviews, but some devices overheated and burst into flames. Samsung attributed the issue to a "battery cell issue" and stopped selling the device on September 2.
The UCPSC gets involved
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday issued an official recall for all Note 7s sold in the entire country before September 15. The team said "consumers should immediately stop using and power down the recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices" and contact the location where they purchased the devices to either get a new Note 7, a reimbursement, or a replacement device. The CPSC's announcement made banned to attempt to sell or resell one of the recalled Note 7 phones.
Samsung makes sure all faulty Note 7s are recalled
Samsung also plans to push out a software update to all recalled devices to ensure Note 7 users trade in their devices. Once installed, users will be prompted with a security notice that urges owners to shut down and exchange their recalled devices. The notice will appear each time a user powers up or charges their device.
