Samsung has plans to cut off the service for remaining Galaxy Note 7 devices next Monday. This is according to a reported statement from Samsung Canada, and only applies to the still active Galaxy Note 7 devices that are in Canada, but it does beg the question of whether Samsung will follow the same path in other markets where there are still active devices. The deactivation of remaining handsets is an effort to ensure that it its customers are safe, and is not the only measure that has been taken by the company as they have issued two formal recalls of the phone, and have made numerous requests to customers to return handsets due to the issue the phone had with overheating and exploding batteries.
While around 90 percent of the Galaxy Note 7 devices in the Canadian market have been returned by their previous owners, the remaining 10 percent is still a hefty amount of phones, and Samsung understandably wants to make sure that customers aren’t put at risk. With deactivation of the devices the phones won’t be usable, and could very well convince owners to turn the phones in.
The deactivation will also not only include the inability to use the phones on a cellular network in the country, which will disable the ability to send any text messages, make voice calls, and use data, but Samsung will also be disabling the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functions of the devices too, essentially bricking the phones in terms of connecting, which will disable pretty much any function of the device as most of the features will require data or a connection to the network. In addition to the connection functions being disabled, the battery will also see a limiter in regards to how much it can charge up. With all of the limiting functions looming, customers might feel like they have an opportunity to get rid of the phone to others who may have use for it, but Samsung has made it clear that any customers who still own and are in possession of a Galaxy Note 7 in Canada are not legally able to sell or give away the device, so the only real option is to keep it around powered off, or send it back to Samsung.