Refurbished Galaxy Note 7 coming to Korea in June for $250 cheaper

Samsung is planning to launch refurbished Galaxy Note 7 devices in South Korea at the end of June for around $250 cheaper than its original price.

The Galaxy Note 7 was a fantastic phone in many aspects: officially launched last August, Samsung’s sixth iteration of the Note series came with an elegant dual-curved display, Samsung’s signature S-Pen as well as an iris-scanner. Unfortunately, however, the South Korean electronics giant had to recall the device not just once, but twice due to a design flaw that led to self-combusting batteries.

Earlier this year, we started seeing reports that Samsung might be planning to re-launch the beloved Galaxy Note 7 in select markets, which Samsung eventually confirmed. It was just a day ago that we saw the official Wi-Fi certification for the device, and now, ETNews claims that the refurbished Galaxy Note 7 will officially be arriving in South Korea at the end of June.

According to the report, the refurbished phablet – which could be called the Galaxy Note 7R – will be available through all major carriers in Korea: SKT, KT, and LG. The best part is that the device is expected to cost around 700,000 won or approximately $620. That’s significantly lower than the original launching price of 988,900 won which roughly translates to $870. Although these are not brand new devices per se, all of them have been refurbished by Samsung, meaning they should be in a “like-new” condition.

Just as we saw earlier, these refurbished units are likely to come with a smaller battery, possibly down to 3,200 mAh from 3,500 mAh found in the original, and if the Wi-Fi certification is accurate, they should be running Android 7.0 out of the box. However, other than that, the refurbished Galaxy Note 7 should be the same great phablet that we all loved (albeit for a very short period of time). Now, the question is whether consumers will be able to trust the Note brand – the exact same device, no less – that was so negatively publicized and whether this price cut will be enough of an incentive for them.

Despite this, Samsung is expected to go ahead with its current Galaxy Note 8 plans, and while a recent survey indicates that an overwhelming number of people would want to purchase a refurbished Galaxy Note 7 unit, it’s unlikely that the launch will affect Galaxy S8 sales.

Unfortunately, Samsung has made it clear that it has no plans to launch the refurbished Galaxy Note 7 in the US or Canada.

Would you be willing to buy a refurbished Galaxy Note 7 for $250 cheaper? Let us know by leaving a comment below!