Reports of exploding batteries in the US has caused Samsung to recall it’s latest smartphone. This comes weeks after it’s release and is poor timing for the company with the imminent launch of Apple’s new ‘iPhone 7’.
Batteries are currently sourced from both China and Korea, it’s believed the Korean variants are causing the problem but Samsung has issued a recall on all models.
The problem occurs when faulty devices are being charged, and is down to an issue within the batteries themselves, rather than power adapters or circuitry. Apparently, it affects only a small percentage of devices, but when shipments are in the millions, that still amounts to a very big problem.
You can see Samsung’s official statement below:
“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.”