Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall: Everything you need to know

Here's what you need to know about Samsung's Note 7 recall.

Samsung has announced a recall of Note 7s along with a halting of sales after concerns of faulty components causing battery explosions. That's scary, and product recalls aren't fun for anyone to deal with. Here's what you need to know about the recall and how to handle it with your own Note 7.

Note: This is a constantly evolving story with information that is being updated regularly.

Should I keep using my Note 7?

The biggest question to answer from the start is whether or not you should keep using your Note 7 after Samsung has announced that it is recalling the phone. We need to understand that even though Samsung is recalling every phone it has sold that doesn't mean that every phone is at risk of having a battery failure.

From Samsung's announcement of the recall, there have been 35 cases of the issue, out of over a million phones sold. Just one case is enough to make people worried, and 35 is a lot more, but that doesn't mean your phone has the same problem. In light of the new information it is a totally realistic response to want to stop using your Note 7 — but Samsung isn't saying one way or the other what current Note 7 owners should do.

What's causing phones to be recalled?

Samsung's official statement on the recall says that the issue relates to the battery cells used in some Note 7s, which lines up with the earlier reports of phones catching fire and exploding. Given the number of reports that Samsung is investigating, a recall was to be expected.

How do I know if my Note 7 has been recalled?

Rules about how customers with recalled products are notified and handled differs by country, but in general we can expect that all owners will be notified of the recall. A recent example of the Shield Tablet recall over similar issues shows just how this can be handled: customers are notified or can go to a website to check if their phone is being recalled, and can quickly find out what to do with their phone and how to receive a replacement.

Samsung has already announced that U.S. carriers will release details for the recall process as early as today.

This process is particularly important for the future where second-hand sales of Note 7s may occur from people who didn't follow through with the recall now.

What do I do if my Note 7 has been recalled?

As is the case with any other product recall — phones and tablets in particular — you should follow the instructions set out by Samsung, the carrier or retailer you bought it from for the recall as soon as you can. It's incredibly frustrating to have to give up your phone, but there's a reason why it's being recalled and that means you should follow it.

When your phone is recalled, Samsung will replace it — the process is expected to take a few weeks.

How can I trust that my replacement phone is okay?

Then there's the next question: will the replacement Note 7 phone I get be safe? Well, obviously we never know for sure considering that the first phones were all perceived to be safe and were recalled. The whole reason why the phones are being recalled is that Samsung continued to investigate the quality of its devices even after they were sold, so you can bet that whatever issue was found can be reincorporated to the supply chain and manufacturing to (hopefully) ensure that it doesn't happen again.

Of course this is all about trust — no matter how safe and secure a company is in its manufacturing processes, quality control standards can never be 100% perfect, and "bad" units of any phone will always get out. The real issue in this case is that the "bad" units aren't screens with an odd tint or a headphone jack that doesn't work — they're phones that could potentially be dangerous.

The recall has happened — either you trust that Samsung has reliably fixed the issues that were causing problems in the first Note 7s, or you move on to a different phone.