Confirmed: In an Unprecedented Move, Samsung Recalls All Galaxy Note 7 (yna.co.kr)

After delaying shipment of its flagship smartphone Galaxy Note 7 over quality control testing earlier this week, Samsung is all set to recall all of the Note 7 it has shipped in its home nation and abroad, according to rather reliable Yonhap News Agency, which is citing a Samsung official. It would be an unprecedented move from the company. From the report: The Samsung official told Yonhap News Agency that the cause of the reported explosions has 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, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said Samsung is 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. "Products installed with the problematic battery account for less than 0.1 percent of the entire volume sold. The problem can be simply resolved by changing the battery, but we'll come up with convincing measures for our consumers," said the official.Samsung confirmed on Friday that it is indeed recalling the Note 7.

Comments

battery?

[Anonymous Coward]

just think how easy it would have been if the phone had a user replaceable battery?

Re:battery?

[tripleevenfall]

It can't be the battery, they're using the same battery to power the Facebook satellite.

Re: battery?

[Qzukk]

The article I read says that the battery cells are all made by Samsung, but the pack (and controller) was made by another company. The Note 7s in China all have their battery packs made from the same Samsung cells by a different company, and those haven't exploded yet.

Re:battery?

[ChunderDownunder]

Another website claims that phones burst into flames *while charging*.
So its the phone trying to feed in too much juice rather than the battery otherwise spontaneously combusting during normal operation.
So a battery with higher tolerance may solve the issue. Bad batteries vs flawed charging procedure?

Re:battery?

[Opportunist]

And who wants them to be as thin as possible? I'm honestly asking, please, if there is ANYONE here who actually consider this a feature they're looking for in a phone, I would be genuinely interested in the reason! I do not know a single person who ever said that they'd really want their phone to be thinner.

Re:battery?

[Opportunist]

But doesn't that display a wrong image of cell phones? Not all cell phones are slim, but they are all equally valid. By portraying slim cell phones as popular and preferable we subject fatter, sorry, plus-sized phones into a shame spiral that may lead to them trying to get rid of their battery pack or worse, solder it in, in a false sense of this being what we want from them.

Cell phones, please listen! I love you just the way you are, it's not how slim you are, it's how easy your battery can be changed! That's what men really want!

Re:battery?

[PatientZero]

Do you really think they just decide to use fixed batteries just to piss you off?

Don't be silly. They do it to force you to buy a new phone every year or two.

"Oh, is your battery holding less charge? Just buy a new phone and you'll get a new battery for FREE!"

Baloney

[110010001000]

I'm not sending mine back. I am using it right now to type this and it works just fi

Re:Baloney

[110010001000]

Sorry about that. The battery ran out. I'm recharging now and everything is back to nor

Have to lie down in the bed you make

[Solandri]

The problem can be simply resolved by changing the battery

So... do they think the decision to be more Apple-like and eliminate the user-swappable battery is still a good one?

Re: Have to lie down in the bed you make

[Opportunist]

So I buy the thinnest phone in existence because for some odd reason thin is the new usable, then complete it with a fucking huge brick that I need a carry case for because I cannot fit it in any pocket.

Yeah. Great idea.

Software problem

[hackertourist]

Some developer snuck in a HCF instruction...

Re:Better safe than blown up I suppose.

[93 Escort Wagon]

but at the very least at least Samsung is making sure that they don't earn the reputation for their phone being faulty or explosive.

That's little-picture thinking - they need to think about the BIG PICTURE. This was a HUGE advertising possibility that they've now completely lost...

"The New Samsung Galaxy Note 7 - EXPLOSIVELY Great!"
"The New Samsung Galaxy Note 7 - So Great, It Will BLOW YOUR MIND!"

Replacements shipping

[Chris453]

I wonder how they are going to handle the replacement process. Typically you return the defective product when you get the fixed version, but in this case is Fedex/UPS going to be OK shipping a defective device that might burst into flame? The announcement didn't specify if the battery issue was only triggered when recharging the device.