Aviation authorities and airlines across the world have also issued bans or guidelines prohibiting passengers from turning on or charging the phone inside planes in response.
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The recall of some 2.5 million devices could cost Samsung as much as $5 billion, and the company’s shares closed down 3.9 percent Friday.
Passengers have been advised not to turn on or charge Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 phones onboard the aircraft and not to stow them in checked baggage, Director-General of the GCAA, Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, said in a statement. Coincidentally, U.S. smartphone rival Apple Inc.is readying the September 7 launch of iPhone 7.
The mobile business accounts for a major share of profits for Samsung, which also produces home appliances and memory chips.
The move is expected to deal a severe blow to the brand, but Samsung felt compelled to make the plea as more of the phones caught fire during recharging. “However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note7”, the world’s largest smartphone maker said in a statement on Saturday. South Korean consumers were told to go to service centers for replacement phones earlier Saturday. “We are encouraging customers to replace their Note7 by taking advantage of our Product Replacement Programme”.
The firm was beginning to claw back smartphone market share and had tried to pre-empt Apple by launching the nearly $900 Note 7 on August 19, about a month ahead of the latest iPhone release.
Another carrier in the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways, has already temporarily banned the use of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on board its flights, and the UAE also has two low-priced airlines, flydubai and Air Arabia.
“This measure is to avoid the possibility of these devices’ batteries causing fires”, it said. The company’s main supplier has been its own affiliate, Samsung SDI.
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The firm refused to identify the supplier of the faulty battery but said sales in China, where it uses a different supplier, would be unaffected.
