Samsung recalls Galaxy Note 7 after exploding battery cell fault confirmed: ARIRANG NEWS

ARIRANG NEWS

Published on Sep 2, 2016

"갤노트7 일부 배터리 불량…전량 신제품 교환"
Samsung Electronics will replace all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones equipped with fire-prone batteries and halt sales of the flagship product in ten markets... just TWO weeks since the tech giant launched its newest line of premium handsets.

The company confirmed a fault in the battery cell, which led to several of its handsets exploding while being charged. 

Our Kwon Jangho has more on the recall, the scale unprecedented for Samsung which prides itself on its manufacturing prowess. 

Bowing in front of a press conference, the President of Samsung's mobile division, Koh Dong-jin, apologized for the first mass recall the tech-giant has ever had to make for its mobile devices. "We received several reports of battery explosions on the Galaxy Note 7...and it has been confirmed that it was a problem with the battery cell."

Since the Galaxy Note 7's launch two weeks ago, Samsung received 35 handsets which became damaged after exploding while being charged.

The fault is said to be a quality control problem in manufacturing rather than a design fault with the battery.

No injuries have been reported, so far, and although Samsung estimates only about 24 in every million phones would be affected, a full global recall has been issued to ensure the safety of its customers.

So far 2-point-5 million handsets have been made and over a million has been sold.

Samsung announced that replacement phones will be available from service centers starting the 19th of September in Korea, while in the other 9 overseas markets where the Note 7 has also been launched, the date will depend on each country.

Until then, Samsung has released software to its service centers worldwide so customers can go and check the integrity of their handset batteries.

Temporary handsets will also be offered until replacements become available.

The customary 14-day refund policy in Korea has also been extended.

Since reports of the exploding batteries emerged earlier this week, Samsung's share prices dropped 2-percent, after reaching record-highs last week.

Industry experts say the recall costs could stand between 800 million to 1-point-3 billion U.S. dollars in the worse case scenario.

"The recall announcement is a significant blow to Samsung, as the Galaxy Note 7 was set to be its flagship phone for the second half of the year. And with rival Apple set to unveil its new iPhone next week, the timing could really prove to be unfortunate.

Kwon Jang-Ho, Arirang News."