Samsung could be bringing its ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 back to the market in June.
According to The Verge, the handset will only be available in South Korea to start with, and it's unclear whether a wider rollout will follow at a later date.
There are reportedly around 300,000 handsets in line to be released, and they're tipped to be re-branded as the Note 7 R. The refurbished phones could be cheaper than the original by around $270 (about £200, AU$350).
Samsung was forced to recall the Note 7 last year after dozens of the devices caught fire or exploded due to battery issues.
The problem was traced to the size of battery that Samsung tried to fit into the device. These refurbished Note 7s will reportedly contain a smaller battery – 3,200mAh, rather than the 3,500mAh unit in the original models.
Worth a look
We got our hands on a fully working Samsung Galaxy Note 7 when it launched, and in our in-depth review we were impressed with the beautiful design, great camera and a screen that we called “the world's best on a phone” at the time.
That was back in 2016, of course, and since then the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus have been released, so even if this refurb has fixed the problems with the Note 7, the question will be whether it’s a handset that's worth revisiting.
Certainly the lower price tag will make it an interesting proposition for those wanting to get their hands on Samsung’s (near) best technology. The Note 7 R looks like it will launch with Android 7.0 Nougat; add to that retina scanning and its beautiful AMOLED screen and the phone could end up being one of the best on the market.
However, whether anyone will trust a device that literally exploded remains to be seen, and this may be the reason why the Note 7 R is getting a limited release to start with.
