As first reported by Korean media outlet Yonhap News Agency, Samsung has issued a global recall for all of its Galaxy Note7 models (except China, it seems). This unprecedented move will surely do serious damage to the Note brand, and even Samsung itself.
The recall comes in the wake of several users reporting that the non-removable lithium-ion battery in their Note7 exploded while on the charger. It’s a problem we’ve seen in the past with a few other phones, but this time, Samsung must have good reason to believe that the issue is more widespread than a few defective devices.
According to Samsung’s official statement, they’d received complaints on 35 problematic devices out of the 2.5 million Note7s sold. The statement also noted:
Because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note7.
For customers who already have Galaxy Note7 devices, we will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks.
It appears that almost all models of the Galaxy Note7 are susceptible to battery malfunction—a major fire hazard and health risk, and Samsung is working with carriers across the globe on plans for the recall. It’s obviously a major issue, and you can check out the aftermath in the following video.
As you can see, YouTuber Ariel Gonzalez had his Note7 completely destroyed by an exploding battery. The event occurred while the phone was being charged using Samsung’s stock cable and charger, which were recently switched over to USB Type-C standard.
USB Type-C has had several issues since its launch, and even Google’s own chargers are not up to spec, though this issue is specific to Samsung devices.
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