The IT Nerd

Those who are still clinging on to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, even after Samsung recalled the devices due to faulty batteries in mid-September may want to seriously reconsider returning them to the Korean company. The Verge has obtained an image of an alert that went out to at least one Note 7 owner on U.S. Cellular:

According to an image obtained by The Verge, an alert went out to at least one Note 7 owner on US Cellular today stating that, “As of December 15th, Samsung will modify the software to prevent the Galaxy Note 7 from charging. The phone will no longer work.”

Samsung declined to comment, and US Cellular did not respond to a request for comment.

I for one do not have a problem with this, assuming this is accurate of course. Keep in mind these phones explode and catch fire. That makes them a massive hazard to anyone who has them, and potentially those around them. If you have one, you really need to return it to Samsung. Period. And anything that Samsung can do to accelerate getting them all back is a good thing.

UPDATE: Samsung has now confirmed that they are going to brick any device that are still in customer’s hands:

Consumer safety remains our highest priority and we’ve had overwhelming participation in the U.S. Note7 Refund and Exchange Program so far, with more than 93 percent of all recalled Galaxy Note7 devices returned.

To further increase participation, a software update will be released starting on December 19th that will prevent U.S. Galaxy Note7 devices from charging and will eliminate their ability to work as mobile devices.

If you have not yet returned your device, you should immediately power it down and contact your carrier to obtain a refund or exchange.

Thus far, this seems to be a US only exercise. But don’t be shocked if this starts popping up in other places.

This entry was posted on December 9, 2016 at 8:16 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Samsung. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.