For Samsung, it’s safe to say that this Fall season has not gone to plan for them, as the Galaxy Note 7 hit shelves, was then recalled from shelves and then once again recalled. Now, the Galaxy Note 7 is no more, as the South Korean giant has taken the phone off of shelves entirely, but when a company like Samsung, that launches phones in such volume and scale all over the world, it can be a lot more difficult than you think to make a smartphone simply “go away”. Even after Samsung continues to warn customers about the dangers of using the device, there’s a large number of people out there “risking it”. This has prompted Samsung to release numerous different updates to effectively neuter the phone, even shutting it down entirely in places such as New Zealand. In China, however, someone that wanted a Galaxy Note 7 for their own – and didn’t feel like paying for it – effectively got what was coming to him.
In China, there are some independent stores that are still selling the Galaxy Note 7 at a reduced price in a bid to make back some of the money they spent purchasing the devices on their own. An Internet Cafe in Anhui province, China, was the recent scene of a smartphone theft, with the phone in question being a Galaxy Note 7. It’s unclear as to whether or not the phone was on sale there or just in the possessions of one of the patrons, but shortly after the thief stole the phone, it exploded in their possession. The China Times report doesn’t do all that good a job of explaining whether or not the phone was on sale, but it appears as though it was just a user reluctant to give up their phone as part of the recall. Some had joked that the thief hadn’t been watching the news and was thus pretty uninformed regarding the problems with the Galaxy Note 7, while others had said that it could be a new anti-thief mechanism from Samsung themselves.
Whatever the cause of the theft, this report is yet another reminder that Samsung will struggle to completely get rid of the problems surrounding the Galaxy Note 7 and it’s recall problems. With other models of Samsung phone also reportedly catching fire and exploding, it’s not a good time of year for Samsung, but as rumors have suggested, the South Korean firm is looking ahead to 2017 and the Galaxy S8, rather than focus on the Galaxy Note 7.