Report: Most Galaxy Note 7 owners still using their potentially explosive phones

By Christian de Looper September 15, 2016

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 — Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Hey guys, stop using your Samsung Galaxy Note 7. No, seriously! Almost two weeks after Samsung first recalled the Galaxy Note 7 due to the risk of it exploding, the majority of owners are still using their device as often as ever, according to data from Apteligent. In fact, according to the report, the “usage rate of the phone among existing users has been almost the exact same since the day of the recall.”

That’s somewhat concerning — seriously, when did Tinder become more important than the risk of your hands being blown off or your house set on fire?

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Of course, it probably doesn’t help that Samsung isn’t managing the recall process as well as it could. Sure, it takes some effort to swap out 2.5 million smartphones, but Samsung could be going about it a different way. For example, Samsung mentioned in the initial recall that it would “voluntarily” replace the Galaxy Note 7 for users, but it made no mention about whether or not the phone was safe to use.

Samsung also never gave a timeline for the replacement of faulty devices, saying that they would be exchanged pending approval from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Unfortunately, the CPSC isn’t much more organized than Samsung — it only issued an official recall of the Galaxy Note 7 on Thursday. Hopefully, this recall will help speed along the exchange process, convey some urgency in the matter, and prevent more accidents from happening.

All this confusion might explain why Galaxy Note 7 owners are continuing on with their daily lives as if their phone couldn’t blow up at a moments notice.

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Christian de Looper

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Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…

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