14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung announced the global recall of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones at the start of the month, and in some countries, the company has already replaced about half of pre-ordered units. Major carriers in the US have already listed the smartphone on their websites, while Samsung officials said it might take longer for sales to restart in Europe.
According to a report by Reuters, Samsung intends to restart sales across Europe in late November or by the end of the fourth quarter. The South Korean company doesn't intend to restart sales until all Galaxy Note 7 units with faulty batteries are replaced.
"We fully expect (new Note7s) to be available everywhere by the end of November ... well before the end of the fourth quarter," said David Lowes, Samsung's chief marketing officer in Europe.
In Europe, Samsung started pushing out a new software update to all pre-ordered Note 7 devices. The update would limit battery charge to 60%, so that phones would no longer overheat. In addition, customers from other countries will receive notifications every three hours to exchange their Note 7 phones.
The exchange procedure is different across European countries. Samsung collaborates with mobile carriers in the UK, while in Germany it contracted a courier service to deliver safe units directly.
Sales will resume on September 28 in South Korea
The company has announced that 70% of customers from Canada already registered for replacing their Galaxy Note 7 units and that sales will restart in mid-October.
Samsung intends to restart sales on September 28 in South Korea, which will be the first country where Note 7 units from the safe batch will be available. The company has already replaced 100,000 units out of the 400,000 Note 7 phones sold in South Korea.
In addition, the South Korean government requested the exchange program to be extended until September 30 and both Samsung and the battery supplier to conduct additional tests on units.