Remember those exploding Samsung phones? They plan to refurbish and sell them again

Samsung may have recalled the Galaxy Note 7 in October after battery issues caused some to explode or start fires, but the company may not be done with the model yet. In a statement released two days before the company plans to unveil its latest smarphone, the company said Monday it would consider refurbishing and selling the devices they had recalled last year to be evironmentally conscious.

"Devices shall be considered to be used as refurbished phones or rental phones where applicable," the statement read, though the company acknolwedged that "applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand. The markets and release dates will be determined accordingly."

The Note 7 was recalled in 2016 after months of reports of fires or other battery failures, including almost 100 in the United States, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Though Samsung initally attempted to pr ovide free replacements, several countries independently announced recalls of the phone before Samsung announced eventually it would stop sales worldwide. Airlines and the FAA also banned the phone from flights because of the fire risk.

According to Samsung, phones that cannot be refurbished will be taken apart for components that can still be reused, and metals will be extracted from the remaining parts in an environmentally safe way.

The statement followed a Greenpeace protest at one of the company's meetings, demanding an answer to how the company would dispose of the millions of phones it had taken back, according to the Verge.

Though most of the phones were returned after the recall was announced, Samsung said earlier this month it would disable the remaining Note 7s that had been sold by disabling charging on the remaining devices, according to the Korea Herald. The company had also suggested to tech site Motherboard it would destroy all the phones collec ted by the recall before issuing its new statement Monday.

Samsung is set to launch its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, Wednesday. The electronics conglomerate has struggled since the Note 7 fiasco, losing billions in profits from the phone's production and losing value in the company's stock, according to CNN.

Source: Remember those exploding Samsung phones? They plan to refurbish and sell them again