The company has announced that it will start exchanging the device as soon as next week or users could swap their Galaxy Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge.
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“To date (as of September 1st) there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are now conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market”.
The tech giant has since halted sales of the smartphone, just two weeks after it was launched.
Samsung had the biggest share (22%) of the global smartphone market in the three-month period ending June 30, according to research firm IDC. The manufacturer plans to replace not only phones with faulty batteries sold to consumers, but also retailer inventories and units in transit. While recalls in the smartphone industry do happen, including for rival Apple Inc, the nature of the problem for the Galaxy Note 7 is a serious blow to Samsung’s reputation, analysts said.
Explosions aside, the Note 7 has reviewed incredibly well. Reportedly, a few “explosion” incidents during or after charging the Note 7 have occurred in the United States and South Korea.
The official, who wanted to remain anonymous, also said that Samsung’s investigations have revealed that the reported incidents of explosions of the newest Galaxy Note 7 handset are linked to its battery.
Samsung said devices in China don’t appear to be affected because it used another battery supplier. In the U.S., Samsung said it will let customers downgrade to a Galaxy S7 and refund the price difference.
“Only 24 out of every one million handsets were affected by the battery problem; Investigations are still ongoing, but we have chose to stop selling the phone and offer replacements as customer safety is our top priority”, he said.
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“If the exploded phone had burned near my head, I would not have been able to write this post”, she said in a popular online forum Thursday, where she shared a photo of the scorched Note 7 and described dousing the flames.
