14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung may begin disabling all Galaxy Note 7 units in the United States on December 15. The information shouldn't be surprising, though, since the South Korean handset maker announced it would prevent all Galaxy Note 7 phones from connecting to any mobile network in various countries, including Australia and Canada.
Now it's Americans' turn to hurry up and return their Galaxy Note 7 phones, while the exchange and return program is still live in the country. Samsung hasn't yet made any official announcements, but some carriers have started warning their customers about the decision.
A message received by a U.S. Cellular customer confirms that “Samsung will modify the software to prevent the Galaxy Note 7 from charging. The phone will no longer work.” The decision will take effect on December 15, as mentioned earlier.
It looks like Samsung is being more radical in the United States than in other countries where it simply didn't allow Galaxy Note 7 units from connecting to carriers' mobile networks. In the U.S., Galaxy Note 7 owners won't be able to recharge their phones any longer if the new update is installed.
The Galaxy Note 7 has been recalled twice, but about 10% of those who purchased the phone haven't returned it yet for some reason.
Well, it looks like now would be a good time to go ahead and return the phone since it will soon be turned into a brick via Samsung's upcoming software update.
In early November, Samsung announced that only 85% of the Galaxy Note 7 units sold in the United States were recovered and that it hoped that the rest of 285,000 phones would be returned by customers by the end of the year.
Well, it looks like there are still enough Galaxy Note 7 units in the hands of customers in the United States, otherwise Samsung wouldn't have taken drastic measures to have them returned.
We'll wait for Samsung's official announcement to learn more about the software update that will put major limitations on the Galaxy Note 7.