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.
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The company has said it will also be recalling phones from United Kingdom customers and replacing them with new ones over the coming weeks.
The massive recall of one of Samsung’s flagship devices is an embarrassing setback for the world’s biggest selling smartphone maker.
The company noted that a thorough inspection with its suppliers is now being conducted in order to identify the possible affected batteries that are already on the global market.
“However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7”.
While customers in the USA can exchange their phones starting next week, for markets outside of the US, it may take up to two weeks to sort out replacement devices. Or customers can get a replacement Note 7 as early as next week.
Samsung had the biggest share (22%) of the global smartphone market in the three-month period ending June 30, according to research firm IDC.
On Friday, Samsung announced its findings that some of the new devices that went on sale two weeks ago caught fire due to a “battery cell issue”.
All major U.S. carriers have stopped selling Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, and some of them have even offered customers the option to trade their device for another one in the company’s portfolio or get a full refund. Koh refused to name the supplier.
“If the exploded phone in flame was near my head, I would not have been able to write this post”, she said in a popular online forum on Thursday, where she shared a photo of the scorched Note 7 and described dousing the burning phone with water.
“It will cost us so much it makes my heart ache”.
Customers’ reports of scorched phones prompted Samsung to conduct extra quality controlling tests and delay shipments of the Note 7s this week before the recall.
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Meanwhile, Digicel has also suspended the sales of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 till further notice.
