According to South Korea’s Yonhap News, South Korean based electronic firm, Samsung Inc. today announced that the company will issue a global recall of its new flagship the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after its investigation on explosion claims found batteries were at fault.
According to the company’s statement, they promised to share the findings as soon as possible. “Samsung is fully committed to providing the highest quality products to our consumers.”
Samsung launched the Note 7 on Aug. 19 in some markets, including South Korea and the U.S. Shipments were delayed in South Korea this week for extra quality control testing after reports that batteries of some of the jumbo smartphones exploded while they were being charged.
Citing an unnamed company official, Yonhap News said Samsung’s investigation has found that faulty batteries have caused phones to catch fire. It said Samsung estimates that the number of Galaxy Note 7 phones with the faulty battery accounts for “less than 0.1%” of the products in the market.
SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, said about 400,000 units of the Galaxy Note 7 were estimated to have been sold in South Korea.
Samsung beat expectations with stellar earnings in the latest quarter and its stock price was at a record high before news emerged of the Note 7’s battery problems. The company’s shares rose 0.8% early Friday after falling 2 percent the day before.
Despite the investigation in South Korea, Samsung went ahead with its scheduled launch Thursday of the Galaxy Note 7 in China. Company officials did not reply to questions about how Samsung determined which phones are deemed safe and which require further testing. It did not say if those phones are different from the ones sold in South Korea.
Yonhap News said five or six explosions were reported by consumers. However, there were no confirmed reports of any injuries.
“Every year, there have been accidents of battery explosions but it is the first time that six or seven cases happened within such a short period after the launch of a new product,” said Ha Joon-doo, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp.
