【Esther Moser】

Samsung has an interesting deal for Note7 owners in South Korea: Replace the device with a Galaxy S7 or Esther MoserS7 Edge now, and get a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy Note8 phone next year for half the price.

The Korea Heraldreported the plan Monday, quoting a statement from Samsung, and Reuters posted a similar report.

Both reports claim customers would be able to replace the Note7 for a discount on Note8, which would mean the Note line of devices is not dead.

All Samsung Note7 phones have been recalled due to an issue that causes the battery to overheat and, sometimes, catch fire. The phone has been discontinued, and there is no further support for it, but despite Samsung's pleas for customers to return it, there are still hundreds of thousands of unreturned Note7 phones out there.

Samsung's new plan is currently only live in South Korea, and will be carried out by the end of November. However, the Korea Heraldclaims a similar upgrade program will follow in other countries.

The offer itself sounds interesting, especially for early adopters, but it's risky. Anyone that agrees will basically be paying for a device they know nothing about — and even though you get it at half the price, the S8 or even the Note8 might not be to your liking.

The thing is, we don't know anything about these phones — or their batteries — right now. Not a single spec has been announced, or even leaked at this point. The S8 is slated to arrive in February or March of 2017, but that hasn't been confirmed either; there's no rumors as to when the company might launch the Note8.

And even though the arrival of new Samsung flagships next year isn't hard to guess, it's rare for a company like Samsung to even acknowledge the existence of a new flagship phone this far ahead.

We've contacted Samsung about the details of the program and the possibility of it launching elsewhere, but have not yet heard from the company.

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