Samsung suspends Note 7 production

By Lee Min-hyung

Samsung Electronics has temporarily suspended production of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone amid mounting pressure over continuing reports that replacement devices are also catching fire.

“The company made the decision following discussions with regulators in Korea, the United States and China,” said an official from a partnering company of Samsung Electronics, Monday. “The production suspension affects its manufacturing facility in Vietnam which is responsible for global shipments of the new handset.”

Samsung Electronics has yet to announce its official position on the issue.

The company has been mired in a months-long controversy over reports that the Note 7 smartphone catches fire while charging. Amid mounting safety concerns, the company decided last month to recall the first batch of handsets and exchange them for new ones without any battery defects.

But Samsung continued to grapple with problems of apparent manufacturing defects in the replacement phones, following reports that a U.S. flight was evacuated after a passenger’s replacement Note 7 caught fire on the airplane, last week.

When the U.S. report went viral, the country’s major mobile carriers — including AT&T and T-Mobile — announced that they had halted sales of the Samsung smartphone and will exchange replacement Note 7 devices with different models, citing customer safety.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating the case, and plans to release its findings soon. Samsung Electronics America said the company is cooperating fully with the U.S. regulator to find the exact cause of the defect.

“We are quickly investigating the reported case to determine the cause and will share our findings as soon as possible,” the company said in an earlier statement posted on its website.

“We remain in close contact with the CPSC throughout this process,” said the statement. “If we conclude a safety issue exists, we will work with the CPSC to take immediate steps to address the situation.”

Korean mobile carriers — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — said they are also paying close attention to the sales suspension, but did not confirm whether they would follow their U.S. counterparts.

A spokesman for the nation’s largest mobile carrier SK Telecom said: “There is no confirmed quality issue for any replacement Note 7 devices in Korea, so we have yet to decide on its sales suspension as of the moment.”

He said the company, however, will continue to keep a close eye on the CPSC’s findings.

KT and LG Uplus are also in talks with Samsung Electronics over a sales suspension of replacement Note 7 smartphones, but nothing specific has been discussed yet, they said.

An LG Uplus official said: “We have not received any official statements from Samsung over the Note 7 sales suspension, but we will take proper action with the company to ensure customer safety.”

Samsung Electronics released the 5.7-inch flagship smartphone on Aug. 19 in 10 countries. But the company recalled the handset, citing safety concerns over a battery defect. On Oct. 1, Samsung resumed sales in Korea.