By Kim Tae-gyu
Since its launch last month, the Galaxy Note 7 has been touted as a best-in-class device with such features as an iris scanner and an improved stylus. But it may have critical flaws in safety following continued reports of it exploding.
Samsung Electronics officials said Thursday that it stopped shipments of the new phone this week and an investigation is underway to pinpoint the cause of multiple explosions both at home and abroad.
"We have acquired the handsets, which our customers say burst into flames while charging to identify the reason. We will come up with a fix as soon as the investigation is finished," an official said. "We suspended the supply of the phones earlier this week so as to double-check their safety."
Experts say that Samsung may have to recall all phones already delivered to customers, which would burden the company, although the official refused to talk about this option.
After a report on the large-screen phone's explosion first came out last week, a few similar cases were uploaded at the country's social networking service sites.
Outside of the nation, an explosion appeared online last week in China ― a Galaxy Note 7 blew up while connected to a converter followed by identical accidents in other countries.
Samsung refuses to confirm whether the chargers and converters at issue are the firm's official adapters or third-party offerings, which is expected to affect Samsung's decision.
If Samsung is forced to recall the models, it would weigh on the company's bottom line as the Galaxy Note 7 is one of the tech giant's strategic devices for 2016.
In March, Samsung introduced its Galaxy S7, which became a big hit across the world. Its brisk sales buttressed the outfit's revenue for the first half.
As a result, the world's largest smartphone manufacturer saw its second-quarter operating profit jump by more than 18 percent to 8.1 trillion won compared to the same period in 2015.
Samsung expected that the Galaxy Note 7 would become a double cash cow together with the Galaxy S7 because the former got off to a solid start with high preorders.
In particular, it was hyped as an innovative model thanks to an embedded iris scanner, which can work as a handy tool for verifying identity necessary for such activities as financial transactions.
However, the explosion reports are feared to cast a chill on the handset's early popularity as Samsung may be required to delay its global release in order to troubleshoot the safety problem.
Since its launch last month, the Galaxy Note 7 has been touted as a best-in-class device with such features as an iris scanner and an improved stylus. But it may have critical flaws in safety following continued reports of it exploding.
Samsung Electronics officials said Thursday that it stopped shipments of the new phone this week and an investigation is underway to pinpoint the cause of multiple explosions both at home and abroad.
"We have acquired the handsets, which our customers say burst into flames while charging to identify the reason. We will come up with a fix as soon as the investigation is finished," an official said. "We suspended the supply of the phones earlier this week so as to double-check their safety."
Experts say that Samsung may have to recall all phones already delivered to customers, which would burden the company, although the official refused to talk about this option.
After a report on the large-screen phone's explosion first came out last week, a few similar cases were uploaded at the country's social networking service sites.
Outside of the nation, an explosion appeared online last week in China ― a Galaxy Note 7 blew up while connected to a converter followed by identical accidents in other countries.
Samsung refuses to confirm whether the chargers and converters at issue are the firm's official adapters or third-party offerings, which is expected to affect Samsung's decision.
If Samsung is forced to recall the models, it would weigh on the company's bottom line as the Galaxy Note 7 is one of the tech giant's strategic devices for 2016.
In March, Samsung introduced its Galaxy S7, which became a big hit across the world. Its brisk sales buttressed the outfit's revenue for the first half.
As a result, the world's largest smartphone manufacturer saw its second-quarter operating profit jump by more than 18 percent to 8.1 trillion won compared to the same period in 2015.
Samsung expected that the Galaxy Note 7 would become a double cash cow together with the Galaxy S7 because the former got off to a solid start with high preorders.
In particular, it was hyped as an innovative model thanks to an embedded iris scanner, which can work as a handy tool for verifying identity necessary for such activities as financial transactions.
However, the explosion reports are feared to cast a chill on the handset's early popularity as Samsung may be required to delay its global release in order to troubleshoot the safety problem.
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