In an update issued today, Samsung says that 85 percent of the Note 7 devices that it sold in the US have been returned successfully.
For those of you keeping score at home, that means that 15 percent of the Note 7s — hundreds of thousands of quite possibly explosive phones — are still in the hands of stubborn bloggers somewhere, just waiting to explode. Samsung doesn’t want this, so it’s playing tough.
DON’T MISS: Don’t buy the crap T-Mobile (or anyone else) is selling
In a statement to BGR, Samsung said that “We remain focused on collecting the outstanding Galaxy Note7 phones in the market. To further drive participation, we will be releasing a software update in the coming days that will limit the phone’s ability to charge beyond 60 percent, as well as issue a reminder pop-up notification every time a consumer charges, reboots or turns on the screen of their Note7 device.”
In other words, customers have a couple days before their Note 7 have pathetic battery life, and start nagging them non-stop to go get a safe phone. Samsung hasn’t commented on this publicly, but in New Zealand, it’s already put plans in place to start blacklisting devices in two weeks.
Basically, this isn’t optional: go hand your phone in right now, get a new device and some cash for your trouble, and go about your day. Sure, the Note 7 is a wonderful phone when it’s still intact, but I would say that any significant risk of a phone exploding in your pants pocket is too big a risk. Life is short. Don’t set your jeans on fire.
Samsung also says that a majority of customers returning their Note 7s have opted to stay with Samsung, which I’m sure has nothing to do with the monetary incentives that Samsung is offering people to exchange their Note 7 devices for another Samsung phone.
