Samsung’s Note 7 fiasco just won’t seem to end. The device, which was killed off by the company due to the risk of malfunction and fire, wiped out Samsung’s mobile profit in Q3. And even though the South Korean giant has issued a recall on all devices, some people are still not ready to part with their phablet.
That’s why in New Zealand, Samsung and its telecom partners decided to take a different approach. On November 18th, all Galaxy Note 7 devices that are still in use around the country will be disconnected from all mobile networks. This means that they won’t be able to make or receive calls, send texts, and connect online using mobile data. They will, however, still be able to access the internet with a Wi-Fi connection.
According to Stuff.co.nz, the decision to ban the Note 7 from mobile networks was actually made by local carriers, with “Samsung’s agreement.”
According to Geoff Thorn, the chief executive of the Telecommunications Forum in New Zealand, most Galaxy Note 7 devices have already been exchanged. But there are still a few hundreds of them “in the wild.” He also stated that there have been numerous attempts made by all providers to contact owners and ask them to bring the phones in for replacement or refund. But it seems not all of these attempts were successful.
The big question now is, will Samsung and carriers use the same strategy in other countries? Based on the fact that not all users have exchanged their Galaxy Note 7 device, there must be quite a few of them still in use across the globe. Samsung has not released an official statement on this subject, but when it does, we’ll be sure to let you know.
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