Samsung’s President of Mobile Communications Business, DJ Koh is now on record as placing their customers’ safety as a top priority, while also urging them to cease using their Galaxy Note 7 phablets and exchange them as soon as they can, Forbes reported.
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The tech giant said in a statement last week that there had been 35 reported cases of phones with “a battery cell issue” and that it would replace devices that had already been sold.
“CPSC is working quickly to determine whether a replacement Galaxy Note7 is an acceptable remedy for Samsung or their phone carriers to provide to consumers”, the agency said.
The restriction of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 onboard all aircraft comes after numerous reports of the devices’ battery exploding.
The company, thereafter, issued a global recall of the Note 7 and announced that it will give buyers who had already purchased the device (in the USA, for instance) a replacement over the coming weeks. That move came after Samsung’s investigation into reports of fires found that rechargeable lithium batteries manufactured by one of its suppliers were at fault. Late Friday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urged owners of the phone to turn them off and leave them off.
The US’s FAA has issued a warning to passengers in which it strongly advised them to not turn on or charge the phone during a flight.
Since then, airlines or air safety agencies around the world have warned passengers against using them on flights. They have also recalled shipments of the phones.
There’s a risk that the Note 7 can catch fire while charging due to problems with the battery.
“We are asking users to power down their Galaxy Note 7s and exchange them as soon as possible”, Koh Dong-jin, head of Samsung’s smartphone business, said in a statement. Samsung is the world’s top smartphone maker, outpacing rival Apple.
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Similarly, Transport Canada recommends against putting the the Galaxy Note 7 in the checked in luggage. The Note series is one of Samsung’s most expensive, and demand for the phone had been high.
