Samsung is now officially recalling Galaxy Note 7 units sold worldwide due to fears of its battery exploding. The company has halted the sales of the phone globally, and it plans on offering replacement units to all affected customers.
The replacement procedure can take up to 2 weeks depending on the part of the world you live in.
The reason behind the recall is multiple Note 7 units exploding over the last week or so in various parts of the world. The explosion is being caused by some faulty battery cells. As per Koh Dong-jin, head of Samsung’s mobile division, only 24 Galaxy Note 7 units “on a scale of 1 million were affected by the battery problem.”
In total, Samsung has only received claims from 35 different customers from across the world about the battery on their Galaxy Note 7 exploding.
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 Note7.
It is the first time that a major smartphone company has issued a recall of a smartphone that it has already sold. The Galaxy Note 7 has been available in South Korea, United States, and a few other markets since August 19th. The handset was scheduled to go on sale in Europe and India from September 2nd, but the launch was delayed by Samsung due to supply issues and reports of the handsets exploding.
[Via Samsung]