Samsung Electronics says it will recover gold and other metals in the recalled Galaxy Note 7 and retrieve components from the fire-prone phones to reduce wastes.
The South Korean company said in a statement Tuesday it will likely retrieve 157 tons of gold, silver, cobalt, copper and other metals from millions of smartphones that were recalled and discontinued last year after they were found prone to overheating. It didn't say how it would use the retrieved metals.
The phones' display modules, memory chips, camera models and other components would be separated from the Galaxy Note 7 for sales or recycling, it added.
In another effort to reduce waste, Samsung has begun selling 400,000 units of Galaxy Note FE phones in South Korea made from unused parts of recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.
The recall of millions of Galaxy Note 7 devices cost the world's largest smartphone maker billions of dollars in lost profits and hammered its global reputation.
About three million Galaxy Note 7 handsets were returned to the firm last year, but campaign groups including Greenpeace have expressed concern that discarding the phones could harm the environment.
The recall - the largest-ever by the South Korean tech giant - was deeply embarrassing for Samsung, but it recently launched a new flagship device, the Galaxy S8, to positive reviews and strong orders.
In April, Samsung posted its biggest quarterly net profit in more than three years, although the company has come under pressure on wider fronts.
Written with agency inputs
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