WhereIsAtlas · Consumer electronics

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

A flagship phone that was recalled twice and then discontinued outright — the rare product that ended not as an old model but as a safety notice

Defunct — Defunct, and specifically so. Samsung did not retire the Note 7 in the ordinary way a phone is retired — superseded by a faster version of itself. It was withdrawn and then discontinued while still the current model, after batteries in the devices overheated and caught fire. The Note name later returned on other models; this device did not.

The Galaxy Note 7 was a 2016 Samsung flagship, and it failed in the one way a battery-powered product must not: units overheated and caught fire [1]. The response was a global recall, and then a second one, and finally discontinuation [2]. Samsung's own investigation, published in January 2017, attributed the failures to battery defects [1][3].

What makes it a permanent case rather than a bad quarter is the sequence. A recall is a recoverable event. A recall of a product that then cannot be safely reissued is not, and the Note 7 crossed that line publicly — the device went from flagship to hazard while it was still the thing the company was selling.

Timeline

  1. 2016 — Launched and withdrawn: The Note 7 reaches market as Samsung's flagship, then fails on battery safety and is recalled [1][2] (South Korea)
  2. 2016 — Discontinued: After a second recall the device is discontinued rather than reissued [2] (South Korea)
  3. Jan 2017 — The investigation: Samsung publishes findings attributing the fires to battery defects, carried by Korean and Japanese press the same week [1][3][4][5] (South Korea)
  4. Now — A reference case: The Note 7 is cited as a standard example of a recall that cost a flagship its life (Worldwide)

Quick facts

What it is
Samsung's 2016 flagship phablet
What went wrong
batteries overheated, and units caught fire [1]
The response
a global recall, then discontinuation [2]
The company's own finding
battery defects, published January 2017 [1][3][4][5]
Filed as
defunct — withdrawn while current, not superseded

Sources

  1. Samsung blames Galaxy Note 7 fires on faulty batteries — Al Jazeera (2026-10-25) ↩
  2. Note 7 fires: Samsung blames batteries — Gulf News (2026-10-25) ↩
  3. Samsung identify what took the Note 7 down — ChannelNews (2026-10-25) ↩
  4. 갤노트7 발화 원인은 배터리 결함 (Samsung: Note 7 fire cause is a battery defect) — 동아일보 (Donga Ilbo) (2026-10-25)
  5. Galaxy Note 7 の発火原因を発表 (Samsung announces the cause of the Note 7 fires) — 日経クロステック (Nikkei xtech) (2026-10-25)
  6. サムスン、Galaxy Note 7 の発火はバッテリーが原因と発表 — ASCII.jp (2026-10-25)
  7. Samsung says battery was main cause of Galaxy Note 7 fires — Korea JoongAng Daily (2026-10-25)

Related: seiko · quartz war · harman kardon