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Samsung has recalled all current Note 7 devices after conducting a “thorough investigation” and finding a “battery cell issue.” The electronics company’s latest phone has been reported to overheat or explode, leaving it charred (via GameSpot sister site CNET).
The Note 7 has only been on the market for two weeks, but according to reports, it’s already sold 1 million devices. Future sales of the Note 7 have now been halted and Samsung is replacing units already sold “over the coming weeks.” This comes just a week before Apple is set to reveal the next iPhone. IDC analyst Tay Xiaohan says that “[t]here’s definitely damage done and the whole incident is detrimental to Samsung’s image.”
“The level of damage will depend on how Samsung addresses this issue quickly and solves the problem,” Xiohan continued.
Samsung also had problems last year with the Note 5, which had a stylus that would get stuck if inserted the wrong way. Apple had its own issues with the iPhone 4 in 2010, where users would lose signal when the phone was held in a specific way. Despite this issue, Apple never recalled the iPhone 4, instead opting to give free cases to its customers.
You can read Samsung’s full statement below or on its website here.
“Samsung is committed to producing the highest quality products and we take every incident report from our valued customers very seriously. In response to recently reported cases of the new Galaxy Note 7, we conducted a thorough investigation and found a battery cell issue.
To date (as of September 1) there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7.
For customers who already have Galaxy Note 7 devices, we will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks.
We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market but this is to ensure that Samsung continues to deliver the highest quality products to our customers. We are working closely with our partners to ensure the replacement experience is as convenient and efficient as possible.”
