The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 battery scandal didn’t just affect the United States. As the most likely culprit—the company’s battery division Samsung SDI—was responsible for 70% of all initial shipments, the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer was forced to issue an almost worldwide recall that’s still ongoing. Issuing replacement units and refunds is not an easy feat so Samsung will likely have its hands full for a few more weeks. Still, the company has just announced that Galaxy Note 7 will return to European stores on Friday, October 28th. That date isn’t set in stone as it completely depends on the firm completing its exchange and refund program but it’s to be presumed Samsung is convinced that an additional month from now is enough time to do that as it’s unlikely the company would go public with this information otherwise.
In addition to that, Samsung’s representatives revealed that more than half of Galaxy Note 7 owners have already replaced their device within the first week of the exchange program going live. Out of 57% of people who handed in their potentially unsafe devices, 90% gave Samsung’s latest phablet another chance, 7% opted for a refund, and the rest took another Samsung smartphone. These numbers are radically different to those reported by SurveyMonkey yesterday when the firm claimed that more than a third of Note 7 owners aren’t willing to give the device another chance. Given how Samsung has much more insight into the matter and is basing its numbers on a vastly larger sample pool, its claims are probably much more accurate.
Just like in the US, new Galaxy Note 7 units in Europe will feature a green battery icon which indicates that the device is powered by a safe battery. It’s worth noting that even if Samsung manages to resume European Galaxy Note 7 sales by October 28th, that’s an almost two-month delay given how the device originally hit the continent on September 2nd. The whole ordeal is especially unfortunate for the company if recent reports about Samsung rushing the Galaxy Note 7 to beat iPhone 7 to the market were true as the quicker manufacturing process gave completely opposite results. Still, it remains to be seen whether this event will have any long-term consequences for the smartphone manufacturer.