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Like it or not, it will be increasingly difficult for users of the Galaxy Note 7 to use their smartphones. In the wake of limits imposed on the phablet’s recharging capacity, the South Korean manufacturer has now issued a further software update, for the moment confined to the United States and Malaysia, that will definitively prevent the Galaxy Note 7 from charging, and rule out any further potential danger.
The update, to be implemented in agreement with US mobile networks, began to roll out on December 29, 2016. The radical measure was taken to ensure that no Galaxy Note 7s remain in circulation, and thus prevent any recurrence of the battery explosions that occurred since this summer. In Europe, a recent software update has already limited the phablet’s battery charge capacity to 30%.
A month after its release in Asia, Australia and the US, the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in Europe was suspended when it emerged that there had been several cases of the smartphone going up in flames. The problem, linked to the overheating of the phablet’s lithium-ion battery during charging, reportedly caused 30 minor and major fires.
The news was the beginning of a major ordeal for Samsung, the world’s number one smartphone producer, which had to bring production of its high-end phablet, which had been billed as the most advanced smartphone ever, to a complete halt.
In response to the crisis, Samsung suspended sales of the smartphone and organized a vast refund or exchange program. With its latest move to restrict the charging capacity of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung is hoping that the remaining owners will agree to return their smartphones. More than two million Galaxy Note 7s were sold before the problem came to light.