Samsung has earlier announced the global recall of Galaxy Note 7, the latest version of its smartphone, after receiving reports that some gadgets have caught fire while charging.
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According to Bloomberg News, the company is issuing the recall on the smartphones which just hit the market two weeks ago, and put sales on hold in 10 countries.
As of September 1, 35 of the phones had caught fire around the world, and Samsung chose to halt sales of the Galaxy Note 7 out of consideration of consumers’ safety, the statement said.
Samsung has said China is not affected by the sales suspension, because it used a battery made by another supplier for the Note 7 sold there. 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.
The South Korean company said as of September 1 there has been a total of 35 reported cases with defected batteries.
Anyone with the recalled phone can either turn it in for a new Galaxy Note7 after the issue is fixed or get a Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge.
It said it can not comment on the cost of replacing sold Galaxy Note 7 phones, but it’s a huge amount.
The Galaxy Note 7 is Samsung’s newest, fastest and best handheld to date.
Samsung said Friday it had found a problem with the battery in some of the phones and was halting sales. “We are working closely with Samsung to ensure the replacement experience is as convenient and efficient as possible for our customers”. The company states that customers will be able to replace current Note 7 with brand new ones in coming weeks by calling 1-800-SAMSUNG. So far, 2.5 million phones have been sold around the globe, the company has said.
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Mr Koh promised that the company would work with their worldwide telco partners to replace the phone ‘as soon as possible’.
