"Thick grey-green angry smoke" poured out of the powered down Samsung smartphone. The last time we reported on the Samsung Galaxy Note7 fire-risk issue was a month ago today. At that time we learnt that the recall of the smartphones so far sold was going to cost Samsung about US$900 million. At the same time we first heard Samsung's official explanation of why the batteries in the new flagship Note models were the cause of the potential fire/explosion danger. Samsung had begun its worldwide recall just a few days earlier.

On Tuesday (this Tuesday 4th October) the first new Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones started to reach stores in the US. ZDNet reported that Verizon and Sprint customers could buy 'safe' new Galaxy Note7 phones, with T-Mobile starting to stock the device just a day later. Furthermore, those who had sent-in their potentially dangerous Note7 as part of Samsung's replacement program should have all already received a replacement.