Following reports of exploding batteries in its latest smartphone, Samsung is expected to announce an “unprecedented” recall of the Galaxy 7 Note less than a month after it first debuted.
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Samsung said the delay affects only the South Korean market. Local reports that Samsung has stopped shipping the flagship phone are not true, according to company spokeswoman Sophia Kim.
In light of reports of exploding phones, the South Korean tech giant has announced that it will investigate the batteries and cease shipment for the forseeable future. It cited pictures of severely damaged phones shared in local online communities, social media and YouTube.
In the meantime readers of ours are directly informing us that Samsung has already halted distribution of the phone in a few markets – Belgium and Serbia confirmed for now.
The Galaxy Note 7 is available in several different configurations with different suppliers for the SoC and batteries, so it might not be all devices, but we’ve seen fire reports come from South Korea, China, and the US. No injuries have been reported thus far. Samsung’s stock lost 2 percent in Seoul on Thursday. Both ZDNet and the Korea Herald are reporting about the possibility of a recall, though the Korea Herald doesn’t cite any specific sources.
The Note series smartphones are one of the most expensive lineups released by Samsung and usually inherit designs and features of the Galaxy S series that debut in the spring.
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Samsung won’t be counting on the Galaxy Note 7 to boost its popularity anytime soon. According to the Yonhap News Agency, Samsung is also in contact with USA carriers, which have embraced the Galaxy Note 7 with open arms and began selling the smartphone in late August. For this year, the high-demand-low-supply problem is mainly the cause of delay.
