Samsung: 85% of US Note 7 phones replaced

Seoul - Samsung Electronics said about 85% of its recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in the US have been replaced.

The company also announced an expansion to the US of a software patch intended to encourage the return of the remaining devices.

Samsung said Friday that the patch caps the Note 7’s battery life capacity at 60% and frequently notifies users of the recall. The company has urged the return of the phones since early October when reports surfaced of the devices overheating and catching fire. The patch has already been issued in Europe and South Korea.

Samsung’s program allows customers to take the Note 7s back to their carrier in exchange for another Samsung smartphone or a refund toward a competing phone, such as Apple’s iPhone.

In October, Samsung officially announced it was stopping sales of the Note 7 without identifying the exact cause of the problem. Investigators have determined issues with the Note 7’s battery architecture led to the incidents, Bloomberg News has reported.