Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (Photo : YouTube / Samsung Mobile)
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, but does it have a possibly fatal flaw?
A video posted on YouTube by user Ariel Gonzalez has claimed that his Samsung Galaxy Note 7 caught fire after charging, prompting him to post the video as a warning to other users.
While videos like these are not so rare, his warning may be validated by recent developments. A Reuters report stated that shipments have been delayed, causing alarm among the tech world.
According to the report by Se Young Lee, Samsung stated that "shipments had been delayed for quality control testing, and that shipments to South Korea's top three mobile carriers had been halted."
While Samsung did not specify or elaborate what "quality control testing" they were embarking on, it was stated that "reports of exploding batteries forced the firm to delay shipments of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, and knocked $7 billion off its market value."
The implications of this move could deal a huge blow to the Korean tech giant especially since rival Apple is due to release their latest iPhone models next week.
But the nightmare for Samsung does not end there. According to Korean news outfit Yonhap News, a global recall might be in the offing.
The report quoted a Samsung "company official" who confirmed that the reported explosions were traced to the non-removable battery of the phablet, although he presents the recall as a precautionary measure.
"The most important thing is the safety of our customers and we don't want to disappoint our loyal customers," said the official, who requested to keep his identity off the record.
The official said Samsung will investigate the matter and is will announce the results and the next steps that the company will take next week.
"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."
The Korean tech titan will meet with its international partners like Verizon USA: "Global discussions are under way about matters such as how to deal with products delivered to dealers. Results of the investigation and relevant countermeasures will be made public this weekend or early next week at the latest."
While his statements were short of an actual recall announcement, Yonhap believes that the official's remarks "suggested" that it was imminent.
"We don't have any intention to delay (the announcement) or hide (the result of investigation). The decision will be made in consideration of maximum consumer benefit," the official concluded.
