Samsung’s Note 7 sales halted

Exploding batteries have forced Samsung to stop sales of its new handset as it prepares a hasty recall.

Samsung is understood to be in discussions with telcos about its recall plan. Picture: AP.

Many of Samsung’s brand new Note 7 handsets will be recalled globally after reports of batteries exploding in South Korea.

The Note 7 went on sale on August 19 — just two weeks ago — and has been hailed by many a critic as the best smartphone on the market.

However reports of batteries exploding while charging in Samsung’s home country of South Korea have prompted alarm about the safety of the handset, which has been on sale in 10 countries.

Sales today were paused in South Korea and in Australia pending a decision by Samsung on action it may take, before it confirmed the recall in nine countries.

Samsung said that to date 35 cases had been reported globally.

There were no reported incidents in Australia. But the company was giving customer safety top priority and recalling phones in all 10 countries where they have been sold except China, where a different battery is used.

Samsung says it has sold 2.5 million Note 7s so far.

It said it conducted a thorough investigation and found a “battery cell issue”.

Customers can get a replacement phone, repair or refund in coming weeks.

It followed reports from the Yonghap news agency in South Korea reported that electronics giant is expected to play it safe and announce “an unprecedented recall” of the handset.

The agency quoted a Samsung official who told it under anonymity that the cause of the reported explosions had been traced to the battery of the new phablet.

“The most important thing is the safety of our customers and we don’t want to disappoint our loyal customers,” said the official.

He told the agency that Samsung was expected to announce the result of its investigation into the cause of the reported explosions, as well as comprehensive countermeasures, either this weekend or early next week at the latest.

There’s indications of the decision being announced earlier.

The official told the agency that the problematic battery accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of the entire volume of Note 7 handsets sold.

“The problem can be simply resolved by changing the battery, but we’ll come up with convincing measures for our consumers,” the official was quoted as saying.

Samsung is understood to be in discussions with telcos about its plan, including the fate of products delivered to dealers.

In olden days Samsung’s high-end phones had removable batteries, but in recent models such as the Note 7, the battery is fixed so the entire handset will need to be recalled and batteries replaces.

Samsung is in a corner here because if it didn’t recall potentially affected phones and there were further explosions, there would be major repercussions. Without a recall there would be concern about taking potentially affected phones into public places, and onto aircraft.

The issue however focuses on the battery industry, who the manufacturers are, and what checks large companies such as Samsung conduct to ensure they are safe.

Already we’ve seen the result of batteries in hoverboard models being responsible for burning down parts of houses, including in Australia.