Samsung has been working with carriers worldwide to disable the Galaxy Note 7 and put the phone to rest permanently, and we've seen network access removed from the device in places such as New Zealand, Australia (which started on December 15th) and Canada (the update disables WiFi, cellular, and Bluetooth capabilities), with the possibility that the Korean giant may even disable the last 10% of Note 7s still out in the wild in its home country. Here in the US, though, the only information made available recently has been the final update release dates for US carriers AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile said it would release the final Note 7 update on today, December 27th, and Magenta is finally making good on its promise.
The final Note 7 update from T-Mobile comes in at version N930TUVU2APL2 and will provide an on-screen notification that the phone has been recalled and needs to be returned to the carrier. Additionally, this update will also prevent the device from charging altogether. Keep in mind that Samsung has already sent out an update to limit the charging capability to 60 percent; this update will remove charging completely.
T-Mobile is the first carrier in the US to push forward with the death update for what was, in many respects, the best smartphone of 2016 and the most perfect smartphone the market has ever seen. AT&T will kill its holdout Galaxy Note 7s by way of the death update on January 5th. Sprint will kill its remaining Note 7 smartphones by releasing the death update on January 8th. Verizon, who at first said it would not disable the Galaxy Note 7 because of its utility for traveling customers over the holidays, has now clarified its earlier statement and plans to release its death update on January 5th.
