The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was released in August and has since been recalled twice because of a battery defect, which can cause the device to catch fire either whilst being recharged, being used or sitting idle. The second time the device was recalled, it has been retained by Samsung giving them a two million plus number of device recycling headache. However, not all customers have returned their Galaxy Note 7 smartphone: there are still customers hanging on to their Galaxy Note 7 devices. With this in mind, the United States Department of Transportation has banned the Galaxy Note 7 onboard aircraft. Customers cannot bring it onboard, even with it turned off. The device is no longer allowed onboard any aircraft and may not be shipped via air and it is a federal offence to try to do so. In order to encourage customers to exchange or refund their Galaxy Note 7 customers, Samsung has set up kiosks at airports all over the world: it seems that some customers do not read newspapers, news websites or watch the television and are still unaware that the Galaxy Note 7 needs to be returned.
Today, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation – better known as Amtrak – has banned the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 from passenger railroad services. This includes trains, platforms, stations and connecting buses. In other words, if you still own a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, you won’t be able to take it with you on any part of the railroad infrastructure. Clearly, Amtrak do not want the problem of the Galaxy Note 7 catching fire and causing a station or train evacuation, as these sorts of things attract damaging headlines, cost the business money and of course disrupt the travel arrangements of many thousands of passengers. At this juncture it is uncertain if other train operator companies across the world will introduce a similar ban on the device: one would hope that there can’t be many Galaxy Note 7s left in the wild.
We may see similar bans and measures being put into place over the coming weeks and months, which may only make a minimal reduction in the risk of an exploding Galaxy Note 7 causing mass transport service disruption as there cannot be many of these left, but each story will serve to remind both the public and of course Samsung Executives that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a hazardous object and should be handled in a set of fireproof boxes.