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note7

It'due south the cease of the line for the Samsung Galaxy Notation 7 in the U.s.. All major carriers have now announced plans to deploy an OTA update from Samsung that will forever disable the phone's ability to charge its battery. When Samsung announced the update originally, Verizon issued a defiant statement about its refusal to brick the remaining Note 7s on its network. Information technology has now relented, and volition send the update in a few weeks.

If you haven't been paying attention, the launch of the Annotation vii in fall has been nothing curt of a disaster for Samsung. Later on garnering well-nigh universally positive reviews, the it became apparent the Note 7 was bursting into flames at a higher rate than yous'd expect from simple manufacturing defects or impairment to the batteries. Samsung launched a hasty exchange program, which information technology completely bungled by just using different batteries that likewise seemed prone to catch burn. A recent assay by a third party suggests the battery didn't accept enough infinite in the frame to aggrandize and contract during usage, which led to damage over time.

The company finally had to announce in mid-October that it was discontinuing the telephone and encouraged all buyers to return or exchange the devices. Information technology even offered $100 in credit toward a different Samsung telephone for those who wanted to stick with the company. That was the carrot; the stick came in the form of several software updates that made the phone increasingly annoying to use. First in that location were nags most the exchange program, and then the telephone'southward accuse was express to 60% (less energy to be released in the event of a fire). Now, the battery is being killed entirely.

note fire

The OTA update volition make changes to the ability control IC firmware, preventing the battery from storing power. That means that the battery will not recharge afterwards information technology drains following the update. It will nevertheless work when continued to power, but the battery will be taken out of the loop, so to speak. Thus, y'all could still support data on the Note 7 before getting rid of it.

T-Mobile, Dart, and AT&T all agreed to push the battery-killing update as shortly as it was announced, but Verizon said it didn't want to inconvenience users during the holiday season. That's particularly weird as several carriers weren't fifty-fifty planning to button the update until Jan. Verizon was rightly derided for the statement, which ignores that customers have had months to substitution the device and all accessories at no price. Anyone who hasn't done it yet is just being stubborn.

The OTA will start rolling out on December 27th with T-Mobile. The next round will be on January fifth with AT&T and Verizon (now that it has agreed). Sprint will exist the last to transport out the update on January 8th. Samsung says that 93% of Note 7s accept been returned, so very few people volition be afflicted by the update. I'm sure they'll all exist very vocal about it, though.