Samsung plans Galaxy Note 7 fire sale

Flaming phablet stockpile to be refurbished, resold, rented and/or broken up for parts

Samsung's revealed it will soon start selling the Galaxy Note 7 again.

The phablet crashed and burned last year after Samsung pushed its battery-makers too far, leading to cut corners that made the devices go up in flames.

The phablet ignited a firestorm of controversy that saw it banned from planes and Now the company has issued a statement titled Samsung to Set the Principles to Recycle of Returned Galaxy Note7 Devices in an Environmentally Friendly Way in which it outlines three ways to re-use the trove of un-sold Note 7s.

First up is a plan to consider their use as “... refurbished phones or rental phones where applicable.”

Samsung loads up the caveats on this plan, writing that “applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand. The markets and release dates will be determined accordingly.”

And well it might, because the statement omits discussion of whether the phablets to be recycled will have new or known-to-be-safe batteries. The Register imagines “regulatory authorities and carriers” will be keen to ask about that and other matters. Either that or Samsung may decide to take the devices into markets with gentler regulation.

Samsung's second plan is to detach salvageable semiconductors and cameras for re-use, but only “for test sample production purposes.”

Lastly, Sammy plans “processes such as metals extraction … using environmentally friendly methods.”

Samsung's not disclosed how many Note 7's it's sitting on, but pulling them from sale burned a hole in its bottom line to the tune of $2.3bn. Recouping even a few tens of millions is better than the ashes Samsung's been left with after this flame-out. ®