Only 40% of Galaxy Note7 phones are replaced in S. Korea

Only 40% of Galaxy Note7 phones are replaced in S. Korea. November. 28, 2016 07:12. by Dong-Il Seo dong@donga.com.

As Samsung Electronics’ compensation program, in which the company provides multiple benefits to Galaxy Note7 users to support them to replace with other Samsung phones, expires in two days, only 40 percent of the phones have been replaced in Korea.

According to the electronics industry on Sunday, the compensation program is effective until Wednesday. The program offers users, who replace its Galaxy Note7 with Galaxy S7 series, Galaxy Note5 and other new phones of Samsung Electronics, 70,000 won on their monthly mobile bills. In addition, the company gives Galaxy Note7 users a 50 percent discount of installments for their future purchase of Galaxy S8 series, which will be released next year, through a Galaxy upgrade program. Another benefit is to present all users a voucher worth 30,000 won that can be used via the company’s mobile promotion application when they return their phones or terminate their terms.

The South Korean tech giant says that customers who are difficult to visit the shop where they purchased their phones or the ones who request to replace their phones but failed to get new ones due to lack of products can also enjoy the benefits of the program in December if they apply for the program through the company website. However, users, who do not apply for the program in advance, cannot get such benefits. It has been said that Samsung is not considering providing further compensation programs.

About 300,000 customers are still using their Galaxy Note7 in Korea. It is quite a contrast to the situation in the U.S., where 1.9 million Galaxy Note7 users (about 90 percent) completed to replace their phones or got a refund on their purchase. “The replacement share temporarily increased since Samsung started to forcibly cap charge at 60 percent on Oct. 29. Still, 60 percent of Galaxy Note 7 phone users are not replacing their phones. It is because of that many users consider that the company’s compensation program does not offer much benefit and there are no substitutes to replace Galaxy Note7.”

“Customers who do not replace their phones or get a refund intend to continue to use Galaxy Note 7," source of the industry said. "If they continue to use the phone, safety problems may occur in any time. Additional options should be provided to persuade such users to stop using Galaxy Note7.”