Montclair State University sent out a warning via email concerning the dangers of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a smartphone that has been deemed dangerous, as numerous incidents have been reported of it catching fire and exploding. There have been no deaths related to this phone but there have been burns, injuries and loss of property.
John Keane, a fire safety specialist at Montclair State warned anyone who has the Galaxy Note 7, “Power them down immediately. It is the student’s responsibility to return the phone to whoever their phone carrier is and exchange for a different model.”
Over 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones have been recalled. Samsung started a recall of the models in September, during which customers could get another Note 7 or comparable Samsung smartphone. Despite Samsung’s best efforts, the replacement Galaxy Note 7 phones began to cause the same issues, catching fire and exploding.
A Southwest airlines flight was cancelled when a Note 7 caught fire inside the plane while still at the gate. This specific Note 7 was a replacement model and was deemed safe by Samsung, yet it still caught fire, prompting the evacuation of the plane. Following this, all US airlines have banned the Note 7 from flights.
After news broke that the replacement phones are not safe either, Samsung halted production of the phone permanently amid concerns from consumers and retailers. Those who have a Galaxy Note 7 are urged by the company and to power it down immediately,and return it to the store they bought it from.
If it was purchased from Samsung’s website, Samsung is providing consumers with gloves and a fireproof set of boxes to return the phone in.
Samsung is issuing $100 credits to anyone switching to another Samsung model and $25 credits to anyone switching to any other phone.
Christo Apostolou, a TVDM major at Montclair State, expressed concern, stating, “In this day and age we have our phones on us 24/7, even next to us while we sleep, so if the phone has the potential to explode it can seriously hurt someone.”
Faculty members are concerned as well. Amanda Accardo, an assistant production coordinator at Montclair State explained, “It’s scary to think this device that someone could rely on could cause a major disaster at any given moment if handled a certain way.”
The repercussions for Samsung of this ongoing technological horror story are monumental. The write-off of the Note 7 entirely means a loss of billions for Samsung in the long-term, as well as the loss of consumer confidence, as many owners of the Note 7 are now flocking to other manufacturers like LG, HTC and Apple.
