Potential class action lawsuit against Samsung in US over exploding Note 7

Image Credit: REUTERS

  19 Oct 2016 , 08:55

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s U.S. unit is facing a proposed class action lawsuit from three Galaxy Note 7 customers, according to a filing in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey. The complaint against Samsung Electronics America Inc seeks to represent a nationwide class of Note 7 customers in Nevada, Pennsylvania and California.The world’s top smartphone maker last week permanently ended sales of the fire-prone Note 7 smartphone less than two months after its launch.

The world’s top smartphone maker last week permanently ended sales of the fire-prone Note 7 smartphone less than two months after its launch. Samsung announced the recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in early September following numerous reports of the phones catching fire in what could be one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history.

A spokeswoman for Samsung Electronics America declined to comment on the pending litigation. The complaint, filed on October 16, alleges that the consumers discontinued using the phones after the recall, but were asked to wait days or weeks for a replacement phone.

The complaint states that the consumers continued to incur monthly device and plan charges for phones they could not use. This comes after the company opened up Samsung Galaxy Note 7 exchange and return stalls on airports from South Korea to United states of America. The USA has made carrying Note 7 in flights, a federal crime to deter people from carrying the phones.

With inputs from Reuters

Samsung Galaxy Note 7: Are faulty batteries really to blame for this whole fiasco?

By Anirudh Regidi /  11 Oct 2016 , 17:38

The mysterious case of the exploding Galaxy Note 7 devices is yet to be fully resolved, but that doesn’t stop us from taking a shot at a solution ourselves. If you’re so inclined, here are the facts and pointers that you need to pass judgement on the situation.

The case of the explosive Note 7

The short version of the whole story is as follows:

• Samsung sold 3.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.
• 35 Note 7 phones explode over a period of 3 weeks.
• Samsung issues a worldwide recall of 2.5 million phones, excludes China from recall.
• Battery maker Samsung SDI is blamed for the explosion as Samsung alleges manufacturing defects.
• Samsung claims Chinese battery maker ATL is safe, points to 1 million perfectly functional Chinese Note 7 phones as proof.
• China’s ATL is now the primary supplier of Galaxy Note 7 batteries.
• Replacement Note 7 phones with ATL batteries start to spontaneously combust.
• Samsung kills the Note 7.

If you want a detailed timeline of the whole Note 7 fiasco, head here.

Pointing fingers

Image: Hui Renjie

Samsung conducted an investigation and concluded that Samsung SDI, a Samsung affiliate that made 65 percent of the batteries used in the Note 7, was at fault. Samsung SDI made batteries for all Note 7 phones sold outside China. Note 7 devices sold in China used batteries made by Amperex Technologies Limited (ATL).

Samsung claimed that there was a