Samsung now says that a whopping 500,000 brand new Note 7s have arrived in the U.S. and have been distributed to various carriers and retailers, ready to be swapped out for the recalled phones that are still out in the wild. Getting beyond what must have been a logistical nightmare of distributing the phones, this should relieve some of the frustration Note 7 owners have been experiencing trying to exchange their phone only to be greeted by a lack of available new stock.
Samsung naturally reiterated its commitment to get every Note 7 swapped out for a new one:
Working hand in hand with the CPSC, we are delivering as promised and moving quickly to educate consumers about the recall and make new Note7s available. New devices will be in stores no later than tomorrow and we will continue to take the necessary actions to ensure users are powering down and immediately exchanging recalled devices.
Along with this announcement of new stock Samsung also reiterated that software updates will be arriving on these new phones that will give visual indicators that they are of the “safe” batch sent out after September 15. With the latest software, new Note 7s will have a green battery icon in the status bar and in the power-off screen. This is in addition to the physical “black square” marking on the outside of the Note 7’s box.
Even with 500,000 new phones available in the U.S., that’s unfortunately not enough to cover the remaining recalled phones that are currently out there. As of the official recall date less than 200,000 phones had been turned in. Even if every single new Note 7 was used in an exchange, that leaves Samsung some 300,000 phones short of the 1 million that were recalled in the U.S.
But this is a great start, and in all reality by the time this stock of 500,000 new phones is cycled through Samsung will likely have hundreds of thousands more phones available. Only once every single recalled Note 7 has been replaced can Samsung hope to get back to anything approximating “normal” sales of the new phones.
PRESS RELEASE
ENDSamsung Galaxy Note7 U.S. Voluntary Recall Update
Samsung Will Begin Note7 Exchanges Nationwide No Later Than September 21, 2016
RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. – SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced that over 500,000 new Galaxy Note7 replacement devices have arrived in the U.S. and have been shipped to carrier and retail stores. New Galaxy Note7 devices will be available for exchange at retail locations nationwide tomorrow.
Software Update to Easily Identify New Galaxy Note7 Devices
Samsung also announced the rollout of a software update for new Note7 devices.
The software updates are being delivered in partnership with Carriers and will display a green battery icon on the status bar found on the top right hand of the screen. The green icon indicates that consumers have a new Galaxy Note7 with an unaffected battery.
Samsung and the U.S. CPSC have and continue to urge all consumers of Note7s sold prior to September 15 to power down their device. For those not heeding that advice or are still not aware of the recall notice, a software update will be pushed to all recalled devices. Once installed, users will be prompted with a safety notice that urges owners to power down and exchange their recalled device. The notice will appear every time a user powers up or charges their device.
For details on the software update visit www.samsung.com/us/note7recall.
“Working hand in hand with the CPSC, we are delivering as promised and moving quickly to educate consumers about the recall and make new Note7s available,” says Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America. “New devices will be in stores no later than tomorrow and we will continue to take the necessary actions to ensure users are powering down and immediately exchanging recalled devices.”
In conjunction with the CPSC, carriers and retailers, Samsung continues to maximize its reach to Note7 owners through multiple touchpoints, including direct communications, customer service, social media, marketing and in-store communications.
Consumers are encouraged to visit samsung.com/us/note7recall for carrier and retailer specific instructions on how and where to exchange their Note7 device.
Be the first to comment