Samsung Halts Production on Note 7, Doubles Size of Recall

Attempting to repair the damage to its brand from faulty smartphones that have burned at least 13 people, Samsung Electronics on Thursday widened its recall and increased incentives to persuade customers to return their Note 7s.

Samsung also increased its recall to 1.9 million Note 7 phones, which includes the 1 million Galaxy Note 7s initially recalled on September 15th of this year. The decision to include new Galaxy Note 7 replacement devices as part of the expanded recall came three days after after the company gave up on the high-end device, stopped the production and sale of the phone.

Samsung has received 96 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the U.S., including 23 new reports since the recall announcement, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) report. Samsung has received 13 reports of burns and 47 reports of property damage related to the Note 7 phones, the CPSC added.

The Samsung battery fires explained

Samsung confirmed on Tuesday October 11th that it has shut down production of the phone and urged Note 7 users to power down devices. Surprisingly, even with the recalls and warnings regarding the combustible battery in the Note 7, an estimated 1 million people are ignoring the warnings and continuing to use the device in spite of its dangers.

However, data from predictive app intelligence firm Apteligent shows many people are still using the potentially explosive phones. Note 7 usage peaked worldwide on Monday, but started to decline Tuesday after Samsung’s announcement. However, usage still remains seven percent higher than on the date of Samsung’s first recall back in September, according to Apteligent. The graph below illustrates the Samsung Note 7 use over the past two months. Apteligent has confirmed over 1 million Note 7s are still in use as of October 12th.

Cell phone batteries can cause serious injury and damage if they malfunction.