Samsung Electronics announced a new compensation program for those who have purchased a Galaxy Note 7. The company will allow those who exchange their Galaxy Note 7 with Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge to exchange them again with a Galaxy S8, scheduled to be launched in March 2017. "The new compensation program is designed to make it easier for those who exchange their Galaxy Note 7 with existing Samsung smartphones, to shift into our next model coming in next year," Samsung said. "We think this could an effective program since it also provides some incentives to smartphone vendors," teh company added.

The compensation program for the Galaxy Note 7 purchasers also strengthened the benefits of existing Galaxy Club members (monthly usage fee of 7,700 won).

Note 7 Users File Class-Action Suits

In the meantime, some customers in South Korea and the U.S. who bought Samsung's combustible Galaxy Note 7 phone are filing class-action lawsuits claiming they suffered financial losses due to the recall.

Bloomberg on Tuesday reported that three U.S. customers who bought the Note 7 filed a lawsuit against Samsung at a district court in Newark, New Jersey.

The users argue that they had to pay full service fees and installment payments for their Note 7s for several weeks even after they were no longer able to use them amid warnings that they could spontaneously combust.

Harvest Law Office, which represents the Korean customers, also said it plans to recruit plaintiffs online by Friday and file a class-action lawsuit against Samsung next week at the Seoul Central District Court, seeking W300,000 each in compensation (US$1=W1,124).

The Galaxy Club is a program that allows those who purchase smartphones on a 24-month installment basis to return their used model in one year from the date of purchase and buy a new model without making the remaining installment payments.