The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the latest major smartphone release from Samsung and is already proving to be one of the best devices on the market. That is, if it can still be considered to be ‘on the market’ as Samsung has issued a recall for the Galaxy Note 7 due to concerns over the batteries. More specifically, the fact that some users are reporting that the Galaxy Note 7 batteries are exploding. While reports of smartphones exploding and/or catching fire is something that many smartphones have faced, it seems the frequency of reports for the Galaxy Note 7 was too high for the company to ignore. Although, it does need to be made clear that this is not something that is happening incredible frequently as Samsung has confirmed the issue seems to affect around 24 smartphones per million.
Either way and due to the increased frequency and media attention, Samsung did earlier today announce the recall and their intention to swap-out already purchased Galaxy Note 7s for new ones. If you happen to be based in China though (who has just seen their Galaxy Note 7 availability going live), Samsung is keen to point out that Galaxy Note 7 smartphones purchased in China are not affected by the issue and therefore, also not subject to the recall.
According to a report out of Phone Radar today, Samsung is looking to reassure the Chinese market that Galaxy Note 7s in China are not affected by the issue. The reason Samsung seems to be so sure about this is that the Chinese market uses different battery suppliers to the rest of the world. As this is an issue which primarily affects the battery and with the Chinese version of the Galaxy Note 7 making use of batteries sourced from a different supplier, there is not any need for those devices to be recalled or buyers to be concerned about their handsets.
While the recall in general is likely to prove to be a costly exercise for Samsung, it does stand to reason that if Samsung is confident enough to state that the Chinese version of the Galaxy Note 7 is unaffected by this issue, then they are probably not. After all, it would not bode well and would certainly further compound the current situation if Samsung was to reassure the Chinese market that Chinese Galaxy Note 7s are fine, only to find reports coming out later that a similar issue has arose. Whether the message will reassure Chinese consumers enough to purchase the Galaxy Note 7 though, remains to be seen.