Samsung plans to deactivate service for all remaining Galaxy Note 7 devices in the Canadian market, the South Korean tech giant’s Canadian arm announced on Wednesday.
Though a mandatory recall has been in effect since September, the company plans to limit a range of functions, including battery charge, Wi-Fi, and bluetooth support, on any remaining devices as early as Dec. 12 – and starting on Dec. 15, customers will not be able to use them to make calls, access data, or send text messages through any Canadian carrier at all.
“We are pleased with the return and exchange rate of Note 7 devices from Canadian consumers, securing close to 90 per cent of the Note 7 devices that were brought into the Canadian market,” the company said in a Dec. 7 statement. “We strongly urge any customers still using their Note 7 to return their device to the place of purchase for a refund or exchange.”
The devices will remain capable of dialling 911.
In addition to being forced to comply with the imposed shutdown, Note 7 device owners are legally prohibited from selling or even giving away the device, Samsung noted.
“We have been in continuous communication with Note7 customers to remind them about the need to return their recalled device and will continue to communicate daily with a push notification about this network deactivation event to ensure they continue to receive adequate notice,” it said.
Despite implementing the recall soon after the Note 7’s “battery issues” were reported in September, Samsung has been criticized for not responding to the issue quickly enough. It’s been estimated that the devices, which ran on 3,500 mAh batteries that were prone to heating up and exploding, could wind up costing the company $1 billion USD, to say nothing of the potential cost to its reputation.