Just when you thought Samsung was putting the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco behind it by replacing the fire-prone older versions of the phablets with new and supposedly-safe units, a recent report surrounding what is said to be a replacement Galaxy Note 7 has now put everyone on the edge. From customers to company executives and from market analysts to consumer safety advocacy groups, everyone seems to have been taken aback by reports of what’s said to be an all-new replacement Galaxy Note 7 unit bursting into flames on Southwest Airlines flight 994 at the Louisville airport earlier this week. Although neither Samsung nor any U.S. government operative has officially confirmed whether the device was indeed a replacement unit, the owner of the aforesaid handset, Mr. Brian Green, said that he had picked up the phablet at an AT&T store on September 21st as a replacement for his original Galaxy Note 7.
Following the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have both announced separate inquiries into the alleged incident, which could now well trigger a second recall of the ill-fated smartphone if a couple of former U.S. safety officials are to be believed. According to Ms. Pamela Gilbert, a former executive director of the CPSC, “If it’s the fixed phone and it started to smoke in his pocket, I’m going to guess there’ll be another recall. That just doesn’t sound right”. A former acting chairperson of the safety commission, Ms. Nancy Nord, also seemed to second Ms. Gilbert’s opinion, saying that “They (Samsung) could do another recall if it appears this is something beyond an aberration”.
While the CPSC has officially refrained from making any comments on the issue, Ms. Nord says that Samsung needs to first “determine if this was a remediated phone, and if so why did this happen?” Although some have expressed skepticism about whether the device in question is indeed a replacement Note 7 unit with the new battery, such reports regarding devices designated as ‘safe’ by Samsung have been coming out of China for a while now, although, the veracity of most of those claims are yet to be established. The South Korean company is already expected to take a massive hit on its finances this year due to the initial recall, but if there’s any truth to the recent report, the company will have an even more difficult job trying to convince consumers about its quality control standards.