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If you had a Galaxy Note 7, Samsung has a discount for you

Former Galaxy Note 7 owners can get a break from Samsung of up to $425 for the new Galaxy Note 8.

Alfred Ng Senior Reporter / CNET News
Alfred Ng was a senior reporter for CNET News. He was raised in Brooklyn and previously worked on the New York Daily News's social media and breaking news teams.
Alfred Ng
2 min read
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Former Galaxy Note 7 owners will be able to get up to $425 off the Galaxy Note 8.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Galaxy Note 7 owners are finally getting a break from Samsung.

During the unveiling of the Galaxy Note 8 on Wednesday, Samsung announced it would be giving those who bought the Galaxy Note 7 a massive discount on the Note 8 by trading in their current phone.

Eligible customers will get an instant trade-in value worth up to $425 through a special offer on Samsung.com, the company said. The discount will be about half-off, with carriers listing the phone between $930 and $960. 

You'll be able to preorder the Note 8 from Samsung starting Aug. 24, and it's expected to arrive on Sept. 15.

It'll be a tall order for Samsung, considering that starting last September up to 3 million Note 7 phones were recalled after a number of units overheated and some even caught on fire.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 event on New York on Wednesday opened up with a video showing Note 7 owners talking about how disappointed they'd been about the phone's flaws and the recall. D.J. Koh, Samsung's mobile chief, and Justin Denison, the company's senior vice president of product strategy and marketing, both came on stage to thank fans who stuck by the company. 

"It is a special honor to personally thank all of the Note lovers," Koh said. "I'm deeply, deeply humbled by your loyalty, and grateful for your insight."

See the Galaxy Note 8 from every angle

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The Note 7 recall cost Samsung about $5 billion, and the company will likely take another hit for the discounts.

In January, Samsung explained why its Note 7 batteries were bursting into flames, pointing to two defects that stemmed from design flaws and a rush to market.

Samsung offered full refunds, with trade-in discounts added on top for the millions of Note 7 owners, after recovering 96 percent of the potentially defective phones.

A few handful of stragglers held onto their Galaxy Note 7, even after the global recall, arguing that the phone's benefits outweighed the risks of an overheating battery.

Now those superfans, and all the other Note 7 buyers, will be able to get the Galaxy Note 8 at a discount, which Samsung hopes can win over people who felt burned by last year's debacle. The new device is Samsung's biggest phone ever, with a 6.3-inch display and dual cameras on its rear.

Before Samsung's announcement, we had suggested that the company should offer discounts to former Galaxy Note 7 owners, but only up to $100, £75 or AU$125 off.

Originally published Aug. 23 at 8:00 a.m. PT.
Updated at 9:06 a.m. PT: Added details from Samsung's launch event.

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