The firmware update, which will install without user permission, limits the charge on the phone to 60 per cent, meaning it typically won't even last a full day between charges.
But Samsung is worried that, if the phone's battery is allowed to charge much more than that, it's at risk of exploding and/or catching fire: a problem that prompted the Note7's worldwide recall, and its almost unprecedented killing off as a product.
Android firmware updates usually require the user's permission before they download and install, but Samsung says that because this update is a "safety measure", it's allowed to push it onto phones automatically. It's already pushed the update onto the original Note7s, and now with this update, it's pushing it onto Note7 devices that were brought back in to have their battery replaced, back when Samsung thought it could simply swap out the defective batteries rather than completely remove the phone from the market.
And, let's face it, anyone who still has a Note7 this far into the incredibly well-publicised recall is holding out and won't return it without a bit of extra cajoling.
Samsung has been pushing messages twice a week to any phones that are still out there, telling owners to turn them off and bring them in, but apparently that hasn't been enough for some people.
