Samsung has revealed its plans to sell the refurbished versions of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. The decision comes after internal and independent investigations found no other problems in the devices except for the batteries.
As reported by Reuters, there are speculations that the tech giant could recoup some of its losses by selling the refurbished Galaxy Note 7. Last year, Samsung was forced to pull out the model from the market due to fires caused by defective batteries. It happened just two months after the launch of the device. Samsung lost an estimated $5.5 billion in profits due to the scandal.
Aside from selling refurbished Galaxy Note 7, Samsung also plans to reuse some parts of the device such as camera modules and semiconductors. It will also extract metal parts, such as copper, gold, nickel and silver, from the devices that can no longer be revamped, as reported by The Verge.
However, Samsung is only planning to sell revamped devices in its home country, South Korea. According to reports, the company is aiming to sell up to 500,000 Note 7 sometime in July or August. Samsung told The Verge that it will not offer refurbished Note 7 in the United States. It will also not come to India.
In addition, the company said it will change the model's name, specifications and price range, which will be announced when the devices are already available. "The objective of introducing refurbished devices is solely to reduce and minimize any environmental impact," the company added.
Environmental group Greenpeace, who has been pressuring Samsung to find ways to deal with the waste of its Note 7s, welcomed the news. "Greenpeace will make sure Samsung takes into account the voice of millions of our supporters and abides by its commitment," it added.
Samsung's announcement regarding its Galaxy Note 7 came just before the launch of its newest flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S8. The new smartphone is slated to come out on Wednesday in the U.S.
