Samsung to render Galaxy Note 7 handsets in US and Europe useless

Samsung is set to cripple the remaining Galaxy Note 7 handsets in both the US and Europe. The tech giant has already rolled out the same battery-limiting schemes in other regions, including Australia. Samsung wants to render useless the Note 7 phones that haven’t been surrendered and are still actively used.

Samsung officially announced that all remaining Galaxy Note 7 phones in the US shall be disabled from doing any kind of battery charging. The company is pleading with its Note 7 customers who are still actively using their potentially explosive phones to shut them down and turn them in. According to the South Korean electronics titan, over 93 percent of the Note 7 units in the US have been returned.

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“A software update will be released starting on December 19th that will prevent US Galaxy Note 7 devices from charging and will eliminate their ability to work as mobile devices.” said Samsung in its announcement. “If you have not yet returned your device, you should immediately power it down and contact your carrier to obtain a refund or exchange.”

Samsung also intends to incapacitate Galaxy Note 7 handsets in Europe. In October, the company limited battery charging there to a max level of 60 percent. This time, Samsung is taking it even further, slashing half off of that.

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“As part of our absolute focus on customer safety, from December 15th, all Galaxy Note 7 devices will receive a new battery software update that will limit the maximum charging capacity to 30 percent,” announced Samsung on its UK website. “This software update is designed to further minimise customer risk and reinforce to customers to replace their device through the Galaxy Note 7 Replacement Programme as soon as possible.”

Samsung is most likely to disable charging of the remaining Galaxy Note 7 phones in Europe in the weeks following the battery-limiting update. It will only be a matter of time before the company completely renders all Note 7 handsets in the world useless.