AT LEAST one local cell phone supplier has started exchanging Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones following a global recall over the device’s reported propensity to burst into flames due to a battery defect.
Gina Knowles, general manager of Island Cellular & Electronics, told The Tribune that her store has, for about a week, conducted exchanges on device as part of a global attempt by Samsung officials to prevent further cases of the phone catching fire.
Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) officials, meanwhile, told The Tribune that the company has not yet released the Note 7 for sale in any of the company’s retail stores, and, as such, is not conducting any exchanges.
BTC officials did say the company was expecting a shipment of Galaxy Note 7s, but the sale of the devices in that shipment will not happen because of the global recall.
This comes after Samsung Electronics recalled 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s just two weeks after their launch because of dozens of reported cases in which batteries exploded or caught fire.
Samsung says the problem stems from a manufacturing glitch in the batteries.
Some 35 cases of the Galaxy Note 7 catching fire were confirmed as of September 1, most of them reportedly occurring while the battery was being charged. Samsung has not said how many more battery fires have occurred since then; however, in announcing the phone’s recall, the Canadian government said one case was confirmed in that country while Samsung reportedly received more than 70 reported cases in the US alone. As a result of the controversy, the South Korean company has urged consumers worldwide to stop using the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone immediately and get them replaced with the new Note 7.
Additionally, aviation regulators and airlines have deemed the Note 7 a flight hazard, with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) previously warning airline passengers not to turn on or charge the Galaxy Note 7 during flights and not to put the smartphone in their checked bags.
Several airlines have also reportedly banned the phone and/or asked passengers not to put the phone in their checked bags.
Yesterday, Ms Knowles acknowledged that she has exchanged five or six phones due to the global recall.
“The ones that we know that were recalled, we have already retrieved,” she said, adding that her store contacted persons who had bought the phone in order to conduct the exchanges.
BTC spokesperson Indira Collie told The Tribune that the company has not supplied its retail stores with the Note 7, and consequently could not conduct any exchanges.
She added that any sale of the Galaxy Note 7 in any of BTC’s retail stores would only occur should the global recall be lifted on that particular device.
“It all depends on what the manufacturer does,” she added. “Of course in its present state we definitely would not sell it. But we did not have those devices in stores. We did have a shipment on the way with them, but we won’t be selling those with a recall out.”
On Tuesday, Samsung stated that it plans to issue a software update for its recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that will prevent them from overheating by limiting battery recharges to 60 per cent.
The update for users in South Korea will reportedly start September 20; however it is unclear when the company plans to make the update available in other countries.
Additionally, Samsung plans to begin issuing new Note 7s with batteries it says will not be prone to overheating starting September 19 in South Korea.
By Nico Scavella, Tribune Staff Reporter
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