Production of Samsung’s troubled Galaxy Note 7 has temporarily been suspended, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, which cited an unnamed source at a Samsung supplier. The latest smartphone from the South Korean company is still catching fire, and several mobile carriers in the US and Australia have halted the sale of the phone.
Last month, Samsung suspended sales of its new phablet – one of the most expensive and advanced products of its kind – following reports that the batteries of its latest phone were “exploding” and catching fire. This happened just before the release of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in the UK. The company said an “isolated battery cell issue” was responsible for the burning up of the device. Samsung then recalled about 2.5 million devices globally, with hopes that this move will end the crisis. However, last week a replacement Galaxy Note 7 was found to be emitting smoke on a US plane, when the plane was at the boarding gate. The Southwest Airlines Co flight to Baltimore was evacuated immediately, but no injuries were reported in the incident.
The device was replaced about two weeks ago, after the owner got a text message from Samsung.
The whole episode of faulty batteries has badly damaged the reputation of Samsung as an innovative tech company, which first entered the consumer electronics market in the late 1960s. For the South Korean tech giant, the disappointing episode has surfaced at a time when Apple has recently announced its new iPhone 7 range. Google has also said that it is in the process of making its Google Pixel smartphone in-house for the first time.
Samsung has now temporarily halted production of Galaxy Note 7 after having a detailed discussion with safety regulators on this issue. In a statement, Samsung said it will investigate the reported case quickly and work with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on this issue.
“We remain in close contact with the CPSC throughout this process. If we conclude a safety issue exists, we will work with the CPSC to take immediate steps to address the situation,” said Samsung.
According to analysts, the first recall of Galaxy Note 7 will have cost between $1 billion and $2 billion for the company. Since the initial reports of exploding phones in September, investors have wiped more than $10 billion off the Samsung share price.
On Sunday, AT&T said it is stopping exchange of new Note 7 smartphones following reports of replacement devices catching fire. T-Mobile has also halted sales and exchanges of new Galaxy Note 7 temporarily. South Korea’s SK Telecom and KT Corp said they are constantly monitoring the situation.
Despite the whole episode of recall, Samsung announced last week that its third-quarter profit increased 6% to about $7 billion due to income from Samsung’s other products. During Q2 2016, the company sold about 76 million smartphones, most of them being lower-priced models.
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