Samsung has temporarily suspended production of the Galaxy Note 7 following media reports of fires in replacement devices, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
An unnamed official from a Samsung supplier told Yonhap the decision to halt production was made in cooperation with consumer safety regulators in South Korea, China and the US.
The news comes after two major US mobile carriers stopped issuing replacement devices, citing safety concerns that the replacements may suffer from the same risk of battery fire as the original devices.
An internal memo from Telstra released by The Verge also supports reports of Samsung halting production. It reads:
“Samsung has temporarily paused the supply of new Galaxy Note7 smartphones following a reported incident in a replacement phone in the US. Samsung is confident in the replacement Note7 and says they have no reason to believe it’s not safe. We’ll let you know the status of your replacement Note7 as soon as we have more information.”
Samsung said in a statement last week that it would “move quickly to investigate the reported case to determine the cause and will share findings as soon as possible.”
Update: Late this afternoon, Samsung Australia issued a statement on the matter:
“Samsung Electronics Australia is aware of a number of incidents involving replacement Galaxy Note7 smartphones. Samsung is conducting a thorough investigation into this matter. We continue to move quickly to investigate the reported cases to determine the cause and will provide an update as soon as possible. Samsung Electronics Australia is working with its partners.
We understand that telecommunications operators and retailers in Australia have paused the supply of replacement Galaxy Note7 smartphones in this country and are providing loan phones to concerned customers. Samsung Electronics Australia would like to reassure our customers that we take this matter very seriously. We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate their patience as we work diligently through this process.”
