Refurbished Samsung Galaxy Note 7 R Smartphones Go On Sale In June With Hefty Discount

Samsung’s nightmarish Galaxy Note 7 saga is far from over. After an explosive launch in September of last year, numerous battery fires brought a lot of negative attention to the Samsung brand and the company lost millions as a result of the subsequent recalls and replacement smartphones and cash offered to affected customers (not to mention compensation for wireless carriers).

Samsung could have easily tucked its tail between its legs and shut the door on the Galaxy Note 7 entirely, but the company will begin reselling the smartphones in June. As we’ve reported previously, these refurbished smartphones will have a smaller battery (3200 mAh versus 3500 mAh).

According to ET News, the smartphones will be dubbed Galaxy Note 7 R (for obvious reasons) and will be sold initially through three carriers in South Korea. The Galaxy Note 7 originally sold for close to $900 in South Korea when it first launched, but the Galaxy Note 7 R will be priced much less at around $620 according to the report.

Samsung will allegedly have 300,000 Galaxy Note 7 R smartphones available for sale, which is roughly 10 percent of the total member of devices recalled worldwide. So, what will happen to the millions of other Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that were returned to Samsung? The company issued the following statement last month regarding the remaining smartphone inventory:

Components such as semiconductors and camera modules shall be detached by companies specializing in such services and used for test sample production purposes… Finally, for left over component recycling, Samsung shall first extract precious metals, such as copper, nickel, gold and silver by utilizing eco-friendly companies specializing in such processes.

Despite the major embarrassment to Samsung over the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, it hasn’t stopped people from embracing the brand. Samsung recently reported that pre-order sales for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were up 30 percent year-over-year compared to their predecessors, and reviews for the smartphones have been overwhelmingly positive (including our very own here at HotHardware).