Only a few days ago was it reported that the South Korean government had asked Samsung to delay the exchange program of the Galaxy Note 7 in the country. Initially, Samsung planned on resuming Galaxy Note 7 sales on September 28th, but it appears the company has listened to the government’s request and has decided to push this date back to October 1st.
The recall, which was announced at the beginning of September, will see Samsung replace all 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 units sold worldwide. In some countries, customers have the option of returning their Galaxy Note 7 and receiving a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge in exchange, while the majority of countries have the sole option of simply waiting until the company resumes sales of the phablet in order to receive a new unit. As South Korea was one of the first countries to start the recall process, it makes sense that Samsung will resume sales of the device in this country first, but with the delay, the safe Galaxy Note 7 won’t be available to purchase until three days later than originally anticipated. The reason for this delay is so that the lengthy recall process can be completed as quick as possible before the restart of Galaxy Note 7 sales which, inevitably, will slow down the recall process quite substantially.
Disappointingly for Samsung, its South Korean recall program doesn’t seem to be going as smoothly as in other countries, with roughly half of the devices sold in the country still waiting to be returned, representing over 200,000 units. This is in contrast to other markets such as the United States where nearly 500,000 Galaxy Note 7 models were returned within the first two days. For those who live in other countries, there is no reason to expect any further delays outside of South Korea. This delay has happened under the request of the government and sales aren’t expected to begin in other countries until mid-October or even November in certain countries. Unfortunately, the recalled devices aren’t the only problem in the firm’s hands right now, with some South Korean consumers logging further battery complaints, but this time for the replacement devices. It appears the new devices seem to be losing power quicker than usual when the devices are charging. Government officials have requested that all battery suppliers conduct x-ray tests before they are shipped alongside the additional tests Samsung has to do. The only thing that remains to be seen right now is whether the company can successfully save its next revenue report and get past the recall.