This is the way the exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 ends: not with a bang, but a whimper. After the phones' exploding batteries made headlines, Samsung announced today that they're killing production of the Galaxy Note 7.
On Sept. 2, the phone was recalled because of the battery issues. Earlier this week, Samsung had halted all global sales and exchanges of the phone and temporarily halted production. Now, though, they're permanently stopping the phone's production "for the benefit of consumers' safety."
According to BBC, the South Korean company explained, "We recently readjusted the production volume for thorough investigation and quality control, but putting consumer safety as top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of Galaxy Note 7s."
According to Reuters, Samsung, which is valued at $235 billion and has $69 billion in cash at the end of June, could lose sales of up to $17 billion without the expected sales of 19 million phones. USA Today reports that South Korean company, which holds 22 percent of the smartphone market among hardware makers, saw shares drop 8 percent, the company's biggest daily percentage drop since 2008.
When they were first recalled last month, 2.5 million phones were exchanged. Reuters reports that, at that time, there had been 92 reports of batteries overheating in America alone, including 55 reports of property damage (like the dude whose Jeep was totaled because of an exploding phone) and 26 reports of burns (like this 6-year-old Brooklyn boy).
The replacement phones, however, ended up having exploding battery problems too. Last week, one exploded on a Southwest Airlines flight, and at least four other replacement phones caught fire just over the past week.
After those incidents, Samsung urged phone owners to immediately shut them off and return them. According to the Verge, Elliot Kaye, the chairman of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, praised the decision. "It is the right move for Samsung to suspend the sale and exchange of all Galaxy Note 7s," he said.
Fortunately, if you're one of the people stuck with a Galaxy Note 7, you should be able to return the phone for a refund or for a different Samsung phone.
If you want to stay away from a company that sold millions of faulty phones, you can also snag the Pixel, Google's new phone, or, if you hate headphone jacks, the new iPhone 7.
