Samsung is going to ‘dispose of’ all Galaxy Note 7 handsets
Samsung hammered the final nail in the Galaxy Note 7’s coffin when it confirmed that the handset is no longer going to be produced or sold. The Galaxy Note 7 is dead and those who are still holding on to their original or replacement unit are now urged to immediately stop using it and take it back for a refund or exchange. You might be wondering what Samsung plans on doing with the millions of Galaxy Note 7 units that it’s going to get back? Samsung says it’s going to “dispose of” all of them.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed to Motherboard that Samsung is not going to repair, refurbish or resell these units ever again. “We have a process in place to safely dispose of the phones,” says the official statement. Samsung will be recycling the handsets but that’s not necessarily a good thing when you consider the environmental impact of it all.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers estimated back in 2013 that almost 165 pounds of raw mined minerals are required for an average cell phone. The number is likely going to be higher for the Galaxy Note 7 as it was a very advanced device. Most of that mined material is lost when a handset is recycled. Of more than 50 elements inside the handset only a dozen will be recovered. Most of the rare earth elements are lost which tend to be the most human labor-intensive and environmentally destructive to mine.
This is one of the reasons why smartphones are refurbished and resold even after they have been out for years. The material that’s recovered during recycling is essentially of no value but companies can continue to make money on a device after refurbishing and reselling it. Samsung is doing good by ensuring us that it’s not going to refurbish and resell the Galaxy Note 7 but the environmental impact of it all is enough to give us pause to think about how we treat this planet.
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Many people are under the mistaken impression that their phone cannot be tampered with and it’s illegal to change it. That’s not true. Samsung through the carriers elected to send out a forced OTA to reduce charge capacity to 60% for safety reasons. They could very well, and I suspect they will, send out an OTA to reduce battery max capacity to 30%, maybe 20%, maybe 0% to phones not returned. There will be no updates either. You can root, but then your warranty and protection is gone. If you willingly use a dangerous device and you burn down your… Read more »
if you used package disabler pro to disable software update and the device was an unlocked unbranded version was it possible to avoid getting the forced update which only allowed the 60% capacity? I always immediately disable software update etc in package disabler pro when i get a new device so it stops me getting random updates, even security updates. was it actually even possible to do this if you disable all the samsung accounts knox etc? tbh the lack of firmware updates wouldn’t bother me, i know it’s important to most people but I would have been happy with… Read more »
Yes, unfortunately Pete, they might sooner rather than later disable the EMEI, as they won’t want any more injury or insurance claims….. but also they might not. If you root the phone you may get a couple of years out of it, of course it won’t be worth anything but what is after a few years these days. The rooting might be enough to allow you to continue as your warranty is gone and because you bypass the original software Samsung or the carrier won’t be liable if you do happen to burn your house down and insurance companies won’t… Read more »
What I heard is that the problem might be caused by the battery compartment being just a tad too small, compressing the battery just enough to allow a short condition to develop. What I would do if I had one of these phones is crack it open and replace the battery with a smaller, known good Samsung battery with the same voltage, but lower capacity. You might lose the water proofing, but if you gain a safe phone, the lessened battery life would be worth it.
Sooo sad and sooo wrong!!! Samsung shouldn’t do so and doesn’t have to. Why can’t it reuse the whole phone and just change the defective parts? So it’s fine to keep ruining the planet for the sake of saving the brand name and profits. Dissapointing!!!
I will be keeping mine. One year warranty, plus I have insurance coverage, so I’m good
Bad thing is that if you ever get stolen, break the screen or back, no replacement parts or other note7. You’ll have to go for a S7 edge
There is no warranty or insurance coverage on an official recalled device.
It might be even confiscated on an airport without any compensation.
This is actually pretty sad. I live in Brazil and the Note7 never went to sale here, or even to showrooms. I never had the chance to actually touch the note7, and now they are simply destroying them. Plus it would be more rational to stop making the phones temporary, figure out what’s the problem and reuse the parts from the other notes, except the faulty ones (like a battery and charging circuit for example). And re-release it in December this year or January 2017. Samsung shot their own foot by killing the Note7
Samsung US adviced me to shut it down and look for remedies at my carrier… Really? Currently there are no ‘remedies’. I bought the phone via Ebay, from UK. I cannot ship it back as I live in Romania right now and the device cannot be shipped. My only option is to keep and use the phone. And you cannot remotely brick or lock it, as it is illegal here to do this, as the device is now my private property that cannot be tampered with. I think you will find tens of thousands in my situation, either unable or… Read more »
i would think the displays would be saved as they can use that on the next years model or sell them to apple for the edge iphone , least they do something , apple dont , the iphone 6 is blowing up , screen defects and if you try to replace the phone its a no
Yes sure.. In your dreams…
Pls Samsung send me 1 unit dont destroy em all! I will sign whatever is needed that i take full responsibility of the outcome! Consider it an act of charity. Im dead serious 🙂
Ignore the 6 they said,it’s bad luck and people think its inferior they said
Maybe they could have put in a smaller battery in the returned units and relaunched it as a Note 6.
They should make Galaxy Note 5 Plus … with added dual sim with micro sd since Note 7 out from list
Fix it and sell it for £100 for people who want’s to take chance.
It’s apple behind all of this, I don’t think anything wrong with note 7.
No it’s the perfect phone.. For a terrorist.. You don’t need explosive connected to a phone for remote detonation.. The phone just automatically explode..
Even I want a free one..pls give it to me..
if they discover its only software controling the charging thats the problem….what will they do?
I think they should figure out the problem and them so some serious tests to ensure it is safe and then sell them off. It is to wasteful to just scrap all the precious metals in them.
I would respect them more if they did not just give up so easily. Its a huge waste of resources that sould be given more than 1 appempt to find the problem. Shit happens, deal with like men, not cowards who run away from some work.
They have a few million N7’s to be able to test to destruction to find the fault, before they run out. Very few N7’s were found to be faulty outside of Usa, something smells fishy, lol.
Personally, I think it was bettery too big for space allocated, pressed in, with no room for expansion. Something had to give.
They should try a smaller battery, test it for a good while
I think that the following will happen.
The camera will be salvaged and put in all the new S7 they are building as it’s the same camera. The rest is scrap.
It’s true that we treat our planet like shit just to make money……wtf. Could we be any more stupid?
I’m totally okay with this. I was thinking to buy Note 7 after Note 5 was skipped from Europe and now Note 7 gonna be so new excitement is gonna come with Note 8 and I can’t wait 🙂
Plus I am sure Samsung needs to do wonders now with S8 and N8 for 2017 :)))) So it’s a big plus for all of us who are waiting them next year…
Iam afraid if they recycle some parts of note 7 in note 8.
I want a free one. I’ll risk the explosion.
Me tooooooo!!!!!
Count me also.
Yes please.
you are just idi0ts.. It’s not your safety only.. You’re putting at risk the safety of the people closest to you..
I’ll take phate89’s free copy thanks.
However most nerds live alone…. Make milion of nerds happy 🙂