Samsung today confirmed plans to salvage components from its discontinued Galaxy Note 7 smartphone and reuse some of the parts in the refurbished Note 7 devices “where applicable.”
Prior reports claimed modified versions of the troublesome Galaxy Note 7 would be sold in emerging markets, including India and Vietnam.
The company is thought to be doing this in order to minimize as much monetary loss after the global Note 7 recall and subsequent discontinuation of its flagship handset.
Returned devices “shall be considered” to be used as refurbished or rental phones where applicable, said the firm. Salvageable components such as camera modules and semiconductors will be detached and used for test sample production purposes.
Third-party companies will help Samsung extract and process precious metals such as copper, nickel, gold and silver. Lastly, the company plans to join the EU’s research and development and test efforts to develop new eco-friendly processing methods.
“Regarding the Galaxy Note 7 devices as refurbished phones or rental phones, applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand,” wrote Samsung.
Availability and release dates will be determined at a later stage.
Refurbished Note 7s are said to come with a smaller 3,000 to 3,200 mAh battery to prevent overheating, instead of the 3,500 mAh battery in the defective units.
The South Korean conglomerate said in January that its internal investigation into the exploding Note 7, as well as investigation by independent authorities, discovered two separate flaws with the batteries in both the original and replacement Note 7 units.
The Note 7 fiasco prompted Samsung to delay its Galaxy S8 flagship slightly.
It was estimated that Note 7 fires and the subsequent product recall and discontinuation tarnished Samsung’s brand and wiped $5.3 billion off its operating profit.
“Samsung’s announcement is the first step to show its effort to set a new path for recycling smartphones starting with Note 7s,” Greenpeace wrote in a blog post. The organization will “make sure” Samsung takes into account the voice of millions of its supporters and abides by its commitment.
Greenpeace activists interrupted Samsung’s Mobile World Congress keynote last month due to the fact that the South Korean company at the time failed to come clean on what it planned to do with the 4.3 million recalled devices.
Source: Samsung