European Galaxy Note 7 relaunch bumped up to October 28th

Prospective Galaxy Note 7 owners in Europe weren’t given much of a chance to get their hands on the smartphone before it was recalled on September 2nd, but Samsung now states that the phone will go back on sale in the region on October 28th. Just last week, Samsung had estimated that the phone would not land back on the continent until sometime in November, but now seems confident that it will have enough stock to move this date up to just a week behind the US relaunch.

However, this revised October 28th date is “subject to a full completion of the exchange programme”, and so could end up being pushed back into November anyway. The company is prioritizing the replacement of old Galaxy Note 7s that may have been afflicted with the battery issue before issuing new stock to store shelves.  Samsung has already delayed the resale date of new Galaxy Note 7 handsets in South Korea because the company didn’t believe that it could complete the recall in time.

Despite the limited availability of the Note 7 in Europe before the recall, Samsung states that only 57 percent of European customers have returned their phones so far. Although return rates should increase as consumers receive the mandatory OTA update this week, which limits battery capacity to 60 percent and flashes up an implacable notification to return the phone every time it is charged.

“Every Note7 customer in Europe has received a series of safety messages, from Samsung asking them to exchange, and a software update rolling out across Europe to all existing Note7 devices has reset the maximum battery charge of existing Note7 devices to 60%,” – Samsung

Samsung expects that European returns will be completed by early October. However, the company is having mixed success in cajoling customers into returning their phones in other markets. Just over 60 percent of recalled Note 7 units have been returned in the US and South Korea so far. Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of Canadians have sent their phone back and the recall rate is above 80 percent in Singapore.

If you are planning to pick up a Galaxy Note 7 when it returns to European store shelves on October 28th, be sure to look for the little black sticker on the box and the green battery icon to be sure that it’s safe to use.