Samsung will re-sell the Note 7 as a refurbished device

Samsung will re-sell the Galaxy Note 7 as a refurbished device. This is part of Samsung’s plan to recycle its discontinued Note 7 devices in an environmentally friendly manner. It is unclear when and in which countries the devices will be released on the market.

The decision as to whether the Note 7 will be sold in a particular market depends a lot on the talks Samsung says it is having with local telecom watchdogs and carriers. Samsung has also said that local demand for the device plays a role in whether or not the Note 7 will be released in a particular country.

The devices retrieved last year are recycled according to a three-step plan. First of all, it is examined whether the devices are eligible to be re-sold as refurbished. Certain usable parts, such as semiconductors and camera modules, are removed from the devices that are no longer for sale, after which they will serve as test parts in other production processes. Finally, metals such as copper, nickel, gold and silver will be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

Samsung has told The Verge that reducing the environmental impact is the goal of introducing refurbished Note 7 devices. The phone may be given a completely different name. Other details such as the technical specifications and the price will only be announced once the device is available. Samsung has said it will not release the refurbished Note 7 in the United States.

Last year, Samsung said the Note 7 devices would not be repaired to be sold as refurbished devices. Samsung has now backtracked on that.

In January, after months of investigating the incidents, Samsung said that two different battery errors for the Note 7 had caused phones to catch fire in a relatively large number of consumers.