Samsung Electronics decided on Friday to halt sales of and recall all of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold worldwide as some of the gadgets have faulty battery.
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Samsung shares fell 2% in Seoul on Thursday following reports of problems with the phone during charging, and retraced less than 1% on Friday.
Yonhap News said five or six explosions were reported by consumers, including Park’s case, citing pictures and reports of severely damaged phones shared in local online communities, social media and YouTube.
The devices are being pulled from 10 countries, including South Korea and the United States.
He added he was “deeply sorry” over the incident and customers who already bought Note 7s will be able to swap them for new smartphones, regardless of the purchasing date. It follows reports of the $885 phone igniting while charging.
There are two options: Customers can replace their current device with a new Galaxy Note 7 or exchange it for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge, plus receive a refund of the price difference.
The recall comes at an inconvenient time for Samsung, just one week ahead of the unveiling of their main rival Apple’s latest iPhone model.
On the actions by the Telco, Singtel said, “We are working with Samsung on an exchange programme for customers who have purchased the device”, while StarHub said Galaxy Note 7 users seeking more information on their phone could contact Samsung’s customer care hotline at 1800-Samsung.
SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, said about 400,000 units of the Galaxy Note 7 were estimated to have been sold in South Korea.
There were no confirmed reports of any injuries.
Samsung is recalling the phone, and the company is offering trades for the one you now have. Samsung has identified the affected inventory and stopped sales and shipments of those devices.
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On a related note, HOLY SHIT. The reason Samsung seems to be so sure about this is that the Chinese market uses different battery suppliers to the rest of the world.
