Summary: On Monday Samsung issued an alert to customers asking users to immediately turn off their Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, which have been spontaneously catching fire. In a corporate statement, Samsung said it will also "ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7" while it investigates the cause of the fires. They also said, "Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device." This situation is a major setback for the South Korea electronics manufacturer. The 5.7 Inch Galaxy Note 7 was released in August over anticipation of Apple's brand new iPhone 7 which was released on September 7. Nevertheless customers instantly started to complain that their Galaxy Note 7's were catching on fire. The company explained that faulty lithium-ion batteries were overheating the device and causing it to ignite. In early September, Samsung recalled 2.5 million devices worldwide. However Samsung proposed replacement phone but those bursted into flames too. In the past week, an American user reported his replacement phone caught fire, even though it wasn't plugged in. And on Wednesday, smoke started billowing from a replacement Galaxy Note 7 aboard a Southwest Airline plane before it departed, prompting the flight's cancellation. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the incident on the plane.American safety regulators had previously urged Galaxy Note 7 customers to "immediately stop using and power down" their phones. It took Samsung 25 days to issue the same directive.
On Monday, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Elliot F. Kaye said Samsung made "the right move." The Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to travelers last month, asking them to keep their Galaxy Note 7 phones turned off and "not to stow them in any checked baggage." On Monday, Samsung said that customers who shutdown their phones can "take advantage of the remedies available." According to federal regulators, consumers are entitled to "a full refund."
"No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family, or their property," Kaye said in a statement.
Analysis/Synthesis: This is a very problematic situation. I'm glad Samsung is giving FULL refunds for buyers of the Galaxy Note 7. However if the customers didn't back up their phones they lost a lot of valuable things. This is such a HUGE setback for Samsung and advancement for Samsung's hugest competitor the iPhone. This situation can be synthesized to when the first computer virus was spotted in 1949.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/10/technology/samsung-galaxy-note-7-turn-off/index.html
"No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family, or their property," Kaye said in a statement.
This is crazy! It's crazy that this late in the game phones are still exploding
ReplyDeleteYikes. It would be a rough day if not only your phone caught on fire, but also it cancelled your flight.
ReplyDeleteThis is so wild. It's unimaginable to see important technology we depend on can hurt us.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, this is really scary. It's crazy how blindly we go along with technology and not realizing the possible dangers it could cause to us :((((
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