In case you haven’t heard, Samsung has issued an unprecedented recall on the Galaxy Note 7, after isolated cases of phones catching fire during charging.
The company was blasted for not working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission at first, but has now begun the process to make the recall official with the government.
Fret not, as Samsung has a couple of systems in place to tell new units apart from the old ones. It’s worth noting these instructions come from Samsung Australia, but we imagine a similar system will be in place in the US once the CPSC makes the recall official.
On the box
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
Note: The packaging changes are only confirmed to be happening in Australia at the moment.
The easiest method will be to just look at your retail box. New units will be identified with a circular sticker with a blue ‘S’ on it. There’s also a tiny black box on the bottom right corner of the barcode sticker, as a back up identifier.
On the phone
Samsung has built a database where you can input their IMEI (or serial number) and verify your phone comes from a safe batch.
Your IMEI is located on the box barcode, but you can also access it with a few methods on the device itself:
- Go to Settings > General management > Status > IMEI information
- Dial *#06# in the phone app
- Look for the faint text on the bottom of the back of your device:
You can then check the database here.
Godspeed, friends.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.