Verizon, along with many other carriers, have already issued out the final update for the Galaxy Note 7 that was supposed to effectively kill the device. But there are still thousands of Galaxy Note 7’s on Verizon’s network, according to the world’s largest carrier, who spoke with Fortune today. Earlier this month, Verizon issued an update that would keep the Galaxy Note 7 from charging, effectively killing the device, but there was a caveat to that. Which is the fact that users don’t have to accept the update. Meaning that tech savvy users could opt to skip the update and continue using their device. And that’s exactly what has happened here with the Galaxy Note 7.
The Galaxy Note 7 has given Samsung all kinds of nightmares since about the end of August, a few short weeks after the device launched in a few key markets. The Galaxy Note 7 has gone through two separate recalls, and Samsung has gotten around 96% of their units back, but there are still a few hold outs, and it appears that Verizon has a few thousand of them, themselves. Now that isn’t to say that Verizon is the only carrier that has “thousands” of Galaxy Note 7’s still in use, they are just the ones talking about it. Likely in a last ditch effort to get users to turn them in. As it has been widely reported, the Galaxy Note 7 is a fire hazard and has caught on fire numerous times – resulting in two recalls – so the fact that Verizon and Samsung wants users to stop using the Galaxy Note 7 isn’t because they want to screw over customers, but because they want to make sure their customers are safe.
If you do still have a Galaxy Note 7 in your possession, go ahead and turn it in. You’ll be able to get another device like the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, the Moto Z or even the Moto Z Force, all of which are great smartphones. Surely they don’t have an S Pen, but they also don’t catch on fire as easily. You can head to your local Verizon store (or whichever carrier you are with) and turn yours in.