It’s a bad week for manufacturers, especially Microsoft. After reports of child labourers used in their acquisition of cobalt minerals for lithium batteries, it seems that Redmond will be issuing a global voluntary replacement/recall for Surface Pro charging bricks and cables.
The tech giant is claimed to be making a statement this Friday (22nd January) to announce which units of the Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3 tablets are to be affected. But based on the Channelnomics Europe report, it’ll be the three models mentioned above that were sold in Europe before the 15th of July, 2015.
Corresponding via e-mail with ZDNet, the Microsoft representative had this to say:
“As a result of damage caused by AC power cords being wound too tightly, twisted or pinched over an extended period of time, a very small proportion of Surface Pro customers have reported issues with their AC power cord. We will be releasing details of how customers can obtain a free replacement cable shortly,”
While using the Surface Pro 4, we never noticed any issues of this kind and our colleague hasn’t faced any either while using the Surface Pro 3. Microsoft wasn’t clear on which models but it seems that the Surface Pro 4 won’t be involved if Channelnomics Europe’s report was indeed true – since the timeline doesn’t match-up with the latest Surface Pro only hitting markets in Q4 of 2015.
For those in the States, it seems the recall will be directed at the same three generation of Surface Pros but will be for those sold before March of 2015 – clarification from Microsoft’s representative.
This twisted fate for the older top of the line Surface tablets has just added another pile of worry on the manufacturer’s lap. Adding to the software issues that have plagued the current-generation Surface Pro 4. They’ve got their work cut out for them.
In the meantime, be sure not to put any stress on the power cables by wrapping them around the brick or tightly winding them – we know it’s messy but you don’t want a fire on your hands.
The spokesperson also mentions that this voluntary recall will be global, so be sure to look out for Microsoft Malaysia’s official statement (if any) which we will cover in the future.
