Following over a month of ongoing issues with exploding Note 7 handsets – and the same problems with replacement devices – Samsung is finally giving up and pulling the device off sale permanently.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung confirmed to regulators in South Korea on Tuesday that it’s extending its temporary halt on production and sales (announced one day before) into a permanent decision.
The move, while massively embarrassing and costly to Samsung’s reputation among investors and users, is the correct decision. With no way of predicting which units are affected, or when they might burst into flames, a permanent recall was the only answer.
You simply cannot carry out a global recall of a flagship handset twice and carry on selling it. Embarrassing and costly it may be, but it’s not going to hurt Samsung’s overall business. It has many divisions supporting its core and still predicts revenues of over $100 billion off smartphones alone in 2016.
If you do have a Galaxy Note 7, switch it off and get a refund or exchange it for a different handset.
We’ve asked Samsung’s UK team for comment and will update when we hear back.
