On Sunday, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) said that the selling of refurbished Samsung Galaxy Note 7’s would start from the 7th of July in South Korea. Due to the massive battery failure that ruined the Note 7’s chances at success just last year, it is now stated that these refurbished devices will be using different batteries to those that caught fire last year.
Samsung said that there are 400,000 phones present for sale, each coming at a price of $611. This price of $611 is 30 percent lesser than the sale price of the original Galaxy Note 7. The refurbished version is called the Galaxy Note 7 Fan Edition. The refurbished devices will be made from recalled, unsealed Galaxy Note 7’s, and will use unused components.
The batteries that the refurbished devices will have will be lower than those present in the original Galaxy Note 7, however, these have indeed passed the necessary security tests carried out by Samsung, to make sure that what happened with the original Galaxy Note 7, does not happen again.
The problems caused by the Note 7 were astronomical for Samsung. Due to the battery failure, the company was forced to halt sales in October, while the incident cost Samsung $5 Billion in operating profit, damaging the reputation of the company along the way. However, the company has indeed recovered from the nightmare it had to endure, with the very successful launch of the Galaxy s8.
Whether or not Samsung will decide to sell the refurbished devices in other markets, we can only wait and see. However, one thing is for sure, Samsung does not plan to offer the refurbished device in India and the United States.
