A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is held up with other Note 7 phones on a counter that were returned to a Best Buy on Sept. 15, 2016 in Orem, Utah. (Photo : Getty Images/ George Frey)
Release date of the Galaxy S8 is supposedly near and the Galaxy Note 8 launch will follow later in the year. But Samsung can forget about these two Android flagship phones and consider instead the refurbished Galaxy Note 8, which reports said will return June 2017.
From South Korea, The Investor reported Samsung intends to resume selling the Galaxy Note 7 and the re-launch is likely to happen as early as June this year. The recalled Note 7 is unlikely to be introduced in Korea, instead Samsung is said to ship the refurbished devices to emerging markets.
Initial destinations that the same report mentioned are India and Vietnam.
Per the estimates provided by The Investor, around four to five million Note 7 units are in stock and will be reconditioned by Samsung. It appears too that more than half of the existing inventory never left Samsung's warehouse, meaning they are as good as new.
However, these freshly minted phablet will certainly sell at a lower price point as Samsung will only want to recoup a portion of its losses that resulted to the Galaxy Note 7 recall last year. If the plan will play out as desired, the South Korean is likely to recover a sizeable part of the $6 billion losses the company has reportedly incurred due to the Note 7 exploding battery episode.
And to ensure that a repeat of the debacle will no revisit the Note 7 relaunch, Samsung is replacing the battery size, likely downsizing it from the original 3500mAh to between 3000mAh and 3200mAh. The move makes sense, according to 9to5Google, pointing out the lower capacity battery pack "would have led to an entirely different outcome for the device."
As for the specific pricing, the details remain iffy but since the plan is to sell the Note 7 to budget-conscious consumers then it would be safe to assume that the new sticker price will be in the affordable level.
Samsung, for instance, selling the refurbished Galaxy Note 7 at a cheaper price but with the same gorgeous design plus powerful specs and features will surely lure in buyers in great numbers.
And with the assurance that the Galaxy Note 7 will have a safer battery on its second coming, Samsung appears on the right track to resurrect the premium phablet segment the company has invented.
