The Galaxy Note 7 is officially dead. Samsung has told multiple outlets (CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg) that it is permanently stopping production of the troubled device.
The Galaxy Note 7 was originally released mid-August, and by September, devices were being pulled off the market due to numerous reports of explosions and injuries. After recalling 2.5 million devices worldwide, Samsung spent a few weeks retooling the devices, and on October 1st, it resumed sales of the Galaxy Note 7. Once sales and exchanged devices were out there, reports of explosions resumed, too—Samsung didn't actually stop the phones from blowing up. Just yesterday, Samsung announced a second recall for the devices, and instead of just a recalling specific units in certain territories, it called on "all carrier and retail partners globally" to accept returns and stop sales.Killing the Note 7 is definitely going to be expensive. Earlier this morning, Reuters reported that "if Samsung stops selling the Note 7s, that will translate into lost sales of up to 19 million phones, or nearly $17 billion." It would not surprise us to hear the entire "Note" brand is dead after this, too.
If you have a Note 7, please return it. The device is dangerous and will probably soon be banned from airplanes and other places. A production stoppage means Samsung won't support it with updates, and, after limiting the battery capacity during the first recall, Samsung will probably be looking at other drastic steps to contact every last Note 7 customer and encourage returns. Samsung has information on the recall process here.
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