Currently, the remaining Note 7 users in the U.S. are restricted from charging their device past 60%. In a recent announcement, Samsung stated that they will soon be issuing a software update to the Note 7 that will not only prevent it from connecting to mobile networks, but will stop it from being charged at all.
The company has been trying a variety of methods world wide to force people to return their devices and take advantage of the trade in program, however, its efforts aren’t reaching everybody. In a recent report, Samsung stated that approximately 93% of Note 7s have been returned. That remaining 7% accounts for about 133,000 phones are still out in the market. The update that will essentially brick the device is the furthest the company has gone in hopes that this will finally convince that remaining 7% to return their phones.
In the announcement of the update, Samung released a statement, saying “Together with our carrier partners, we will be notifying consumers through multiple touchpoints to encourage any remaining Galaxy Note7 owners to participate in the program and to take advantage of the financial incentives available.”
Not all carriers are on board with this plan, however. Not long after the announcement was made about the update, U.S. carrier, Verizon, released their own statement, stating that they would not release this update to their customers, and believe that they have already done an effective job communicating the risks and the trade-in incentives to their customers.
“Verizon will not be taking part in this update because of the added risk this could pose to Galaxy Note 7 users that do not have another device to switch to,” says Verizon. “We will not push a software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note 7 to work as a mobile device in the heart of the holiday travel season. We do not want to make it impossible to contact family, first responders or medical professionals in an emergency situation.”
Verizon makes a strong point. However dangerous the Note 7 may be, all of a sudden being left with out a phone in an emergency situation is not something I would want to experience. As for the other carriers, both AT&T and Sprint are waiting until early January to release the update while T-Mobile is releasing it December 27th. The update will be released by Samsung on December 19th and will take 30 days to roll out across carriers, which is why Big Blue and Yellow are waiting till the very end. Big Red, however is just plain saying no.
What do you think about this update? Is this too far or something that needs to be done? Keep the conversation going in the comments below.
Source: The Verge
from Nerd Reactor
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