Verizon Explains Why It Won't Disable Dangerous Note 7
Editors' Note: On Dec. 15, Verizon announced it would push the Samsung software update out to the Note 7 after the New Year. Read our report on Verizon's announcement.
Samsung has a plan to finally shut down any Galaxy Note 7 phones still out in the wild. But Verizon says it won't participate, for reasons that don't make a lot of sense upon closer examination.
Samsung plans to roll out a software update on Dec. 19 to all of the Galaxy Note 7 devices still in the wild. This update will prevent the Galaxy Note 7 from charging, so that once the battery runs out, the handset effectively turns into a brick. Samsung says its update process will be completed within 30 days of Dec. 19.
But not every carrier plans to help. Verizon says it won't push the update to customers "because of the added risk this could pose to Galaxy Note 7 users that do not have another device to switch to. We will not push a software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note7 to work as a mobile device in the heart of the holiday travel season. We do not want to make it impossible to contact family, first responders or medical professionals in an emergency situation."
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Having your phone catch fire seems like just the sort of emergency situation you'd want to avoid, though. And as for travel, the FAA has long since banned passengers from taking the Note 7 on flights.
To be fair, Verizon stresses that it wants any customer that still has a Note 7 to exchange that phone for another device.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has proven to be a thorn in Samsung's side. After models started exploding around the world this fall, Samsung was forced to discontinue the handset. Soon after, it launched a worldwide effort to recall the handset and remove all of the units it had sold — believed to be more than 2 million — from consumers around the globe. Samsung has pointed to a manufacturing problem with the battery as the cause of the Note 7's woes, but outside firms have pointed to a design flaw as the culprit.
Efforts at getting back the Galaxy Note 7 have included working with carrier partners and taking back units at Samsung stores. The company has also opened kiosks in select airports to quickly swap out Galaxy Note 7 units with safer Samsung models.
Along the way, Samsung has offered bill credits to those who turn in the handset to make it a bit more amenable to folks to get rid of the damaged devices.
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Still, there are some holdouts who don't apparently don't fear the possibility of the battery on the Note 7 heating up and exploding. Those folks have stubbornly clung to the device and have shown no desire to give it up.
Samsung said in its statement on Friday that it has recovered 93 percent of all the Galaxy Note 7 units it sold across the U.S. While the company celebrated the figure, 7 percent is still a large number of Note 7s out in the wild. And each day, folks using those phones are putting themselves at risk.
As part of its announcement, Samsung encouraged those who still have Galaxy Note 7 units to turn them over through its refund and exchange program and warned again that keeping the devices could be dangerous. "Anyone who has not yet returned their device should immediately power it down and contact their carrier to obtain a refund or exchange," the company said.
See also : Best Galaxy Note 7 Alternatives
