Samsung may incur losses in excess of a billion dollars due to the Note 7 recall. We’ll never know the exact figure, but it’s obvious that Samsung is eager to move past this fiasco and resume normal Galaxy Note 7 sales. But when will that happen?
According to a statement put up by Samsung Australia, the situation will return to normal from next month. The company expects to begin shipments of new, safe units from September 21.
Sales of the Note 7 should resume in Australia in “early October.”
Keep in mind that these dates are estimates based on the assumption that Samsung won’t run into any other issues in the process of manufacturing replacements units for the recalled Note 7’s, as well as additional stock for new customers.
At least two Note 7’s caught fire in Australia so far, where three airlines banned the use of the device on board of their flights.
What we don’t know is whether Samsung will begin replacement shipments and new sales from the same dates in the rest of the world.
On September 2, Samsung CEO DJ Koh said the company needed two weeks to manufacture a stockpile of new units to replace the devices it shipped in the ten markets where the Note 7 went on sale on August 19 (including US, Canada, some EU markets, and Australia).
In the US, carriers like Verizon and AT&T said they would waive Note 7 replacement fees through September 30, which is a sign that Samsung is confident it can complete the bulk of the recall process by the end of the month.
There’s a solid chance the Note 7 will become available in stores worldwide from the beginning of next month, but we’ll need official confirmation from Samsung on that. If you’re interested in buying a new Samsung phone, you may want to wait until then – it’s not clear what Samsung plans to do with all the returned devices, but we might see some sweet deals on refurbished devices very soon.
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