The Galaxy Note 7 might be a dark blot in Samsung's smartphone business history but it seems like the company might not be done with the device after all. The South Korean company is reportedly planning to sell refurbished units of the infamous Galaxy Note 7 smartphone with smaller capacity batteries and might be sold in emerging countries like India and Vietnam.
Update: Samsung Refutes Reports of Plans to Sell Refurbished Galaxy Note 7 Phones in India
While this is not the first time that Samsung has been tipped to sell the refurbished units of Galaxy Note 7 units in India and Vietnam, the latest report by South Korean publication Hankyung says that the company might sell the smartphones with smaller battery capacity compared to the original version - 3500mAh. Samsung has been tipped to launch the refurbished version of the smartphone with 3000mAh-3200mAh batteries as early as June this year.
Samsung currently has around 2.5 million units in inventory after around 200,000 units were used for identification of the issue that resulted in explosion cases regarding the phone, as per the report.
Apart from curbing profit damage, the company might also opt to sell the refurbished phones in order to avoid the environmental concerns that can be raised if it is forced to dispose the smartphones off, as per the report. If the company manages to sell off its refurbished units to emerging markets like India and Vietnam, it will be able to save itself from this concern as well as reduce its losses that were caused due to Galaxy Note 7's discontinuation and recalls.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters last month, after the company disclosed that faulty batteries were responsible for the fire cases, that reselling some Galaxy Note 7 units as refurbished phones was an option for the company.
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