The Korean tech giant announced that they are already ending their productions and sales of the defective premium Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. They are now pulling out all the devices, offering refunds to all owners. Those who are still holding on to their device may exchange it to other devices or get a full reimbursement.
What To Do With The Device?
Last Tuesday, Samsung announced the discontinuation of the sales and production of the device. Carriers were advised to halt sales because the firm will no longer recall its device to do another replacement.
Customers are advised to return the devices to where they purchased it and have a refund or get a replacement device. The risk of keeping the phone which can possibly harm users, later on, is what Samsung is trying to avoid and this made them arrive in a decision to ditch the Galaxy Note 7.
"That's the big unanswered question. They say they're still investigating ... [but] we still don't have a clear answer on whether or not the battery supplier issue [was the problem]. Was there a design flaw or some other component that was the problem?" said Bryan Ma, Vice President of Devices Research at IDC Asia Pacific talking about the cause of the problem that triggered the loss of trust of consumers to Samsung's devices.
Where To Get A Refund or Replacement?
The South Korean tech giant is coordinating already with carriers around the globe for the device returns, refunds and exchange program for the Note 7 users.
In Singapore, users can return their devices at Samsung Service Center in Westgate, from 11AM to 10PM daily. The company told CNBC that the only available unit model in-store is Galaxy J1 Ace and these devices would not require additional payments.
Telstra in Australia, Optus, Spark and 2degrees in New Zealand all said that users can return their device and can get a full refund or they can get an alternative device.
Telstra gave their customers a 100 Australian dollars as said to be a "goodwill credit" from the carrier.
Galaxy Note 7's Fate
Many are disappointed to the fate of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 which is even dubbed as the world's best phone of 2016 for having irresistible features.
Samsung launched the phone last August and just a few days after the release, it received overheating and catching fire cases from different users in U.S. and South Korea that caused physical and property damages.
The company did a voluntary recall in early September, replacing 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 mentioning battery issues as the culprit of the problem. While Samsung is still rolling the replacement of the devices all over the world, a deemed safe unit ignited in a U.S. flight.
Samsung's downfall is certainly not a reason for the tech giant to be out of the mobile business, but recovery will be slow. The firm's shares dropped 8 percent yesterday, its biggest one-day decline in nearly a decade, with analysts estimating the recall could end up costing as much as $17 billion, according to Reuters.
