A local South Korean media reports that Samsung Electronics will sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7s to minimize profit damage and avoid environmental costs. According to the report, Samsung will release Galaxy Note 7 with a low-capacity battery as early as June this year.
Samsung will reduce the battery size from the previous 3500mAh, to a more subtle size between 3000mAh and 3200mAh. Core components of the phone will be reused but cases will be newly made.
Samsung earlier announced that 98 percent of the 3.06 million devices distributed to the market had been recalled. 200,000 of the units were used to find out the cause of the battery fires and Samsung expects there are 2.5 million units on standby, which could be sold as refurbs.
The refurbished units will be mostly sold in India, Vietnam, and other emerging markets, but the company may also consider selling them in South Korea before the launch of the Galaxy Note 8.