Samsung to sell refurbished Note 7s outside U.S.
Samsung has pulled its notorious Galaxy Note 7 out of mothballs for sale as refurbished models or for rental.
The Note 7 models will not be sold in the United States, and in the countries where Samsung will offer it, the old Note 7 models will be under a different name, according to Samsung.
Consumers and reviewers loved the Galaxy Note 7 — until the lithium-ion battery’s tendency to smoke and catch fire prompted Samsung to recall the model twice. It ended up pulling the phone off the market altogether, and airlines still warn passengers about taking them on flights. The Note 7 flareup left a huge black eye for Samsung and a hit to the tune of $5.3 billion. As many as 2.5 million units were recalled or returned to Samsung.
Samsung said little on where and when it would start reselling refurbished phones.
Refurbished phones are models that have been returned (or not sold at all, in this case) that have been re-made for sale. On Samsung’s website, it describes its refurbished phones as ones that have been “rebuilt, refreshed and covered.” The company offers one-year warranty on its refurbished models, which are offered at lower prices than the new ones. A Galaxy S6 Edge phone, which sold for $672 when it was originally offered for sale in 2015, is currently $223.
The company had initially said it would discontinue selling the Note 7 altogether, and the bulk of Monday’s statement dealt with Samsung’s plans to also recycle parts from the Note, such as cameras and semiconductors.
Samsung is expected to introduce the Galaxy S8 Wednesday, the latest iteration of the Galaxy phone, the line that has emerged as the No. 2 best-selling phone brand to Apple’s iPhone.
Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies, says it’s “questionable” how successful Samsung will be moving the excess phones, but “if they’ve corrected the problem, there’s no reason not to sell it.”