Galaxy Note 7 Owners Not Worried About Exploding Batteries, Continue Using Recalled Smartphones

Galaxy Note 7 owners are holding on to their smartphones despite the safety warnings issued in the wake of Samsung’s global recall, according to data from Apteligent, published Wednesday on ZDNet.

Apteligent is an intelligence solution service that provides tools and performance metrics for mobile developers. Based on the San Francisco company’s collected metrics of Galaxy Note 7 usage, there has been no significant change on the number of existing Note 7 users since the recall was launched early this month.

The graph (below) shows even when reports about isolated cases of exploding handsets surfaced, the usage of the Note 7 increased. When the recall was announced, usage dipped for a few days but gained momentum once again before dropping on Sept. 10 , the day that Samsung took to its newsroom to urge Note 7 users to have their handsets replaced immediately and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a statement saying Note 7 owners should just stop using their smartphones because of the dangers the faulty Lithium-Ion battery poses. The next day, usage once more began ticking upward.

The report showing that the Galaxy Note 7 owners seem unfazed by safety issues comes amid Samsung’s admission that the company is releasing a software fix that would push owners to have their defective handsets replaced via the recall program, Yahoo! Tech reports.

The software fix is going to roll out as an update that limits the defective Note 7’s battery life to just 60 percent, so that the risk of explosion is hampered. In a front-page ad of a South Korean newspaper, Samsung said, “This plan is for the safety of the customers,” according to CNNMoney, which also pointed out that it’s still not clear if the update is for the company’s home country only, or if it would reach other parts of the world, including the U.S.