Ditch your Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Samsung has permanently stopped Note 7 production. There have been over 100 cases of it catching fire, even after Samsung did a recall and declared them safe. Now that it’s clear that they aren’t, Samsung has essentially just given up on the entire line. You should, too.

Look, I get it. Replacing phones isn’t exactly an easy process, and they’re expensive. Mobile carriers aren’t always co-operative. And the phone itself is generally considered excellent. But by using it, you’re endangering not only yourself, but everyone around you. It’s caught fire on planes, workplaces, and hotels. And if your Note 7 causes property damage, your insurance company isn’t going to pay out. With just over 100 devices out of 2 million catching fire, the odds may seem low, and they are. But it’s still, ultimately, a risk. Plus, technology decays. The Xbox 360 had a standard failure rate in the first few months, but it didn’t take long before the infamous “red ring of death” showed up and the failure rate jumped up significantly. So while the Note 7 failure rate may not seem high now, in a year or two, it could be much, much worse. Especially as we still don’t know what causes it.

“But the iPhone has had reports of explosions as well! All devices have some chance to explode!” But the stories of the iPhone exploding are usually different cases. One story circulating about the iPhone 7 Plus exploding involved it incurring severe physical damage during transit, and another story didn’t have it actually go up in flames, but simply had the battery inflate. That’s not to say that iPhones don’t sometimes explode for no reason, but it’s highly unusual. So when, in about a month, the amount of exploding devices reaches the triple digits, even accounting for a few false flags, it’s safe to say there is in fact a serious problem. Otherwise Samsung wouldn’t have recalled the thing.

Besides, the Galaxy Note 7 is dead in the water from a support standpoint. There’s no more warranty and no more updates, and Samsung can potentially disable certain features from being used. (Oculus has already disabled GearVR.) In addition to that, the FAA has rightfully banned Note 7’s from use on airplanes.

So, if you’re using the Note 7, you’re not only posing a risk to yourself and others around you, but you’re getting a phone that could prove to be more of a hassle than it’s worth. So, do the smart thing and exchange it for another phone. No matter how good you think the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is, it’s not worth your life.

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