Europe can finally buy Samsung’s Note 7 on October 28

With all the drama around exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones, it’s easy to forget that many Europeans never had the chance to buy one. That should change October 28, when Samsung plans to formally release the phone in Europe.

There’s a chance that date could change. It’s “subject to a full completion of the exchange programme,” according to Samsung’s press release. That makes it sound like the company will prioritize replacing handsets for the few existing European customers before new ones go on sale. However, Samsung didn’t immediately reply to a request to confirm what the phrase means.

Technically, the Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to go on sale in Europe on September 2, but that was the same day Samsung announced its voluntary global recall of the handset and stopped sales of the phone. Only preorder customers should have received the defective devices. Still, Samsung says just 57 percent of European customers have turned in their phones.

(In the US and South Korea, where millions of phones were sold, Samsung says it’s recovered 60 percent of the handsets.)
The company keeps prodding those customers, though:

“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%,” reads the company’s press release.

If you or someone you know has a Note 7 phone, you can read our full Note 7 recall FAQ here.

Source: cnet.com