Samsung and its Galaxy series of phones have been a main competitor to the iPhone, but the South Korean giant has had a major issue their latest flagship, the Galaxy Note 7. Namely, they explode.
First it was a recall of the Note 7 after phones were seen catching on fire after overheating, and then it was reports of the new phones given out in the recall still catching fire. Clearly there was an issue with the manufacturing of the phone.
On Tuesday, Samsung sent a message to the South Korean stock exchange noting it was going to completely shut down production, marketing and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 phone, according to the New York Times.
Earlier Tuesday, the company announced that it would stop selling its Note 7 smartphones around the world, essentially pulling the model from the market as it sought to determine what has caused the fires in some of its phones. It said it asked all telecommunication carriers and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the device. Hours earlier, it said it had temporarily halted production of the Note 7 to fix the problem.
Perhaps most telling, Samsung has instructed consumers that have the Note 7 to power the device down and stop using them. The recall even spread to China, where the company believed having a different battery would make the difference.
Except consumers complained of batteries nearly exploding, finally shaming Samsung in to the recall in that country.
What isn’t known is how Samsung plans to make consumers who have purchased the device whole. Clearly they are going to have to offer a replacement device and likely one of the consumers choosing, since these types of purchases are so personal.
In South Korea, cell phone companies have offered refunds for those who purchased the Note 7 device or allowed them to switch to other Samsung devices at no extra charge. Perhaps that is the route carriers in the United States will go.
