Published : Sept. 25, 2016 - 14:55
[THE INVESTOR] Nearly half of the potentially dangerous Galaxy Note 7 phones have now been exchanged with new ones in South Korea, six days after Samsung Electronics launched a worldwide recall program over battery problems, industry officials said on Sept. 25.
Of 429,000 Note 7s that have been sold here, more than 200,000 gadgets have been replaced as of Sept. 24, according to the official.
Under the recall plan, owners can decide whether to exchange their phones with new ones or get a full refund. About 5 percent of Note 7 owners have requested a full refund.
Samsung Electronics` Galaxy Note 7
Samsung has advised Note 7 owners to swap their phablets for new ones as soon as possible, in an effort to swiftly end the replacement program before it stars sales of new Note 7s this week.
The tech giant rolled out the new Note 7 here on Aug. 19, but halted sales and conducted a global recall earlier this month following reports of some of the devices catching fire while being charged.
By using a software update, Samsung has limited batteries on the recalled Note 7 devices that have not yet been exchanged to a maximum charge of 60 percent and offered financial incentives to Note 7 owners.
(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)