A week ago, Samsung officially announced a global recall of the Galaxy Note7 as a response to several units that had exploded while charging. People had mixed opinions about how Samsung was handling the recall. Consumer Reports, for instance, criticized Samsung for not handling it through the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which is a government agency that handles official recalls of consumer products. Now, Samsung has voluntarily decided to work with the CPSC on the Note7 recall.

Both Samsung and the CPSC have issued statements regarding their new partnership. For obvious reasons, Samsung's is a lot less critical of the Note7 explosions and of battery fires in general. Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics USA, had this to say:

“Samsung continues to ensure that consumer safety remains our top priority. We are asking users to power down their Galaxy Note7s and exchange them now. New Note7 replacement devices will be issued to exchange program participants upon completion of the CPSC process. In the interim, consumers can return their Note7 for another device.”

Once the CPSC does issue a formal recall, Samsung will be forced to halt Galaxy Note7 sales. Since the process hasn't yet begun, people who send Samsung their defective Note7s may have to wait a while to get one that isn't prone to explosions. Note7 owners, as outlined by the US Note7 Exchange Program, do still have the option to trade their phablets in for either the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge plus a refund for the difference in MSRPs and a $25 credit/gift card. For Note7 owners that have to have another one, select participants in Samsung's program are offering Samsung loaner phones to use until the revised Note7s become available.

Source: CPSC, Samsung