Samsung has made an unofficial commitment that until they have already exchanged those recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices, they will not be selling any new versions of the phablet. Probably that is one of the reasons why they are eager to announce almost every step of the process, apart from the fact that it is also part of their reputation management. Their latest official statement is that almost half of the devices that were voluntarily returned by users in the US have already been replaced with new versions of the Galaxy Note 7.
This means that the Korean OEM has replaced almost 500,000 units of the units that were returned. There are still probably a lot of owners who have not taken advantage of the exchange program for their own safety, thinking that the exploding batteries may have just been isolated incidents. But of course Samsung doesn’t want to take any chances and they have strongly urged owners to recall their phablets and then wait for the replacement units whose batteries have already been changed and software updated.
Samsung also stated in their (very) brief statement that 90% of those that availed of the exchange program still chose to get a new Galaxy Note 7 rather than taking the money and buying a different phone from a different brand. Of course they would have to trumpet that fact as they don’t only stand to lose a lot of money, but also they need to rebuild their reputation as a smartphone maker after this.
We still don’t have an idea on how all of this will affect Samsung’s bottom line. It really is a tough break for the brand as they were just slowly recovering from losses of the past years and had a potential winner in the Galaxy Note 7 since the other flagships for this year, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, were doing really well in the market.
SOURCE: Samsung
Even the news ones are having bad battery stats