Samsung to recover rare metals, components in Galaxy Note 7s

 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 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 Note 7 smartphones.