The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 sales are about to start again in South Korea. However, the South Korean tech giant has delayed the start date to 1st October. The company wants to finish the ongoing recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in the country.
Samsung announced on Sunday that it was delaying the start of new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone sales in South Korea by three days to complete the ongoing recall. Multiple Galaxy Note 7 smartphones caught fire due to a faulty battery. The company announced a recall of around 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 markets, including South Korea on 2 September. Samsung had to offer refunds or replacement devices with safe batteries. The company hopes to complete the recall quickly and restart sales in the fourth quarter to reduce losses. Samsung apologized for the confusion caused by the delay.
Samsung has been offering product exchanges in South Korea for a while. However, so far only about 200,000 affected customers [almost half of affected customers] have turned in their devices. The recall pace is much slower in South Korea than other markets such as the Singapore and the US. The recall rates are expected to drop sharply once the new sales resume. Customers will no longer be able to exchange their devices through domestic carriers that make the process more difficult.
Samsung plans to restart new sales in other affected markets globally as soon as it makes enough progress with the recalls. It has already announced plans to restart sales in Australia and Singapore in October.
The whole battery fiasco and the recall process has been a big embarrassment for the South Korean firm. There have been continued reports of Galaxy Note 7 fires and damages since the recall announcement. Multiple authorities had to issue warnings. Aviation authorities imposed outright bans on the use or charging of the Note 7 on a plane. Samsung had to request affected customers to immediately turn off their phones to prevent further damage. The company hopes to resolve the current Note 7 situation quickly.