AT&T might halt Samsung Galaxy Note 7 sales due to safety risks, other carriers offer swaps
Two days after a smoldering Samsung device caused the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines plane, executives at U.S. cellular carrier AT&T are reportedly considering stopping all Galaxy Note 7 sales and replacements citing safety concerns.
According to an unnamed source, AT&T's final decision on a potential Galaxy Note 7 sales and replacement stoppage could arrive as soon as Friday, Bloomberg reports. Since the carrier is in the midst processing returns of the literally hot Samsung device, alternative smartphones will likely be issued in their place.
A separate report from The Wall Street Journal notes all major cellular providers in the U.S. are allowing customers to replace their Galaxy Note 7 with another device. This includes units already replaced as part of a global recall which began last month.
Replacement offers from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile were activated to assuage customer concerns as Samsung and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission complete an investigation into the combusting handsets. So far, the company had deduced a "battery cell problem" in affected units could in some cases lead to overheating.
Samsung's troubles began shortly after the Note 7 launched in August. Reports of exploding handsets first emerged from users in South Korea who experienced hazardous hardware failures while charging the device. Subsequent incidents illustrated the issue was not limited to charging, prompting Samsung to stop shipments and ultimately issue a voluntary global recall of 2.5 million devices.
Customers in the U.S. returned some 130,000 affected Galaxy Note 7s prior to the recall. Samsung said half of all recalled units were exchanged in September.
More recently, however, a Galaxy Note 7 user in China claimed his replaced unit also exploded. Whether or not the explosion is related to the original battery issue is unclear.
Ironically, a report in September alleged Samsung rushed the Galaxy Note 7 to market in an attempt to capitalize on Apple's "boring" iPhone 7 release. Despite significant feature additions, suppliers were pushed to accommodate a launch set ten days ahead of schedule. One of those enhancements is a high capacity battery 16 percent larger than last year's Galaxy Note model.
According to an unnamed source, AT&T's final decision on a potential Galaxy Note 7 sales and replacement stoppage could arrive as soon as Friday, Bloomberg reports. Since the carrier is in the midst processing returns of the literally hot Samsung device, alternative smartphones will likely be issued in their place.
A separate report from The Wall Street Journal notes all major cellular providers in the U.S. are allowing customers to replace their Galaxy Note 7 with another device. This includes units already replaced as part of a global recall which began last month.
Replacement offers from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile were activated to assuage customer concerns as Samsung and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission complete an investigation into the combusting handsets. So far, the company had deduced a "battery cell problem" in affected units could in some cases lead to overheating.
Samsung's troubles began shortly after the Note 7 launched in August. Reports of exploding handsets first emerged from users in South Korea who experienced hazardous hardware failures while charging the device. Subsequent incidents illustrated the issue was not limited to charging, prompting Samsung to stop shipments and ultimately issue a voluntary global recall of 2.5 million devices.
Customers in the U.S. returned some 130,000 affected Galaxy Note 7s prior to the recall. Samsung said half of all recalled units were exchanged in September.
More recently, however, a Galaxy Note 7 user in China claimed his replaced unit also exploded. Whether or not the explosion is related to the original battery issue is unclear.
Ironically, a report in September alleged Samsung rushed the Galaxy Note 7 to market in an attempt to capitalize on Apple's "boring" iPhone 7 release. Despite significant feature additions, suppliers were pushed to accommodate a launch set ten days ahead of schedule. One of those enhancements is a high capacity battery 16 percent larger than last year's Galaxy Note model.
Comments
If the next exploding Note 7 actually takes down a plane, and AT&T is the carrier that sold it, whatcha think they will do then? Besides go to court to defend a class-action suit, I mean.
Also, please type properly.
Try reading any sentence about any Samsung product. If you just substitute the words, "brainless idiots" for "Samsung," it will suddenly make a lot more sense.
The FTC should ban ALL sales of the Note 7 phones and have Samsung recall ALL Note 7 phones sold and refund the money.
Under the right conditions, the Note 7 phones unless recalled will cause a death.
Hey, if Apple comes out with an iPhone that's just as dangerous, my opinion is the same. Life is just too precious to loose.
Please salute them.
Always.
The flight was Inigo flight 6E-054 from Singapore to Chennai.
The phone was a Note 2.
This was a much more serious incident than the one the one in the US since it happen while the flight was airborne! Somehow this incident got very little media attention.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37454436
... since Apple has never needed to recall two releases of life-threatening exploding phones, Samsung has no example from Apple to copy from...
Posted using Google Now by the last poor bastard still surviving in Samsung's Quality Control Unit, after sustaining blunt-force head trauma, loss of hearing & severed right hand while blast-testing Note 7 v3 without proper use of helmet & safety gloves...