We had reported a few weeks ago that Samsung might sell the Galaxy Note 7 as refurbished units shortly. The South Korean smartphone giant has now confirmed that it will bring the Galaxy Note 7 as a refurbished smartphone in some markets depending on regulatory approvals and local demands.
In an official blogpost, Samsung has announced that it has established three principles to ensure that all the Galaxy Note 7 units are recycled and processed in an environment-friendly way. First, the smartphone will be considered to be used as a refurbished or rental phone wherever applicable.
Second, reusable components and parts of the device would be detached for reuse. Third, valuable metals and other such parts shall be extracted using environment-friendly methods. This appears to be a walk back from the company's plan to not bring back those units to the market.
Regarding the use of the Galaxy Note 7 as a refurbished or a rental device, the company will consult with local regulatory authorities, carriers, and local demand before releasing it in any market. The company will announce the release date of these refurbished units accordingly.
For the remaining Galaxy Note 7 units, components such as processors and camera sensors would be detached by firms that specialize in this area, and those components would be used for testing and sample production purposes. It is being rumored that the refurbished units would feature smaller capacity batteries.
The company has also announced that it will extract precious metals such as copper, gold, nickel, and silver would be extracted from the remaining components by eco-friendly companies. Moreover, as a part of the company's ongoing commitment to recycling, it will join EU's R&D and test efforts to develop new eco-friendly processing methods.
Last month, Greenpeace protestors interrupted the company's MWC press conference, demanding to know what the company would do with the 4.3 million Galaxy Note 7 units.
