Samsung Reportedly Halts Production On Samsung Note 7… Again

Image courtesy of Reddit

More than a month after Samsung first halted production on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 amid incidents of exploding and smoking batteries, a new report out South Korea claims that the electronics giant has once again stopped producing the phone following news that supposedly safe Note 7 devices might have a similar defect to the original.

This is according to the Yonhap news agency, which reports that Samsung and South Korean safety regulators have cooperated on the temporary production halt.

Samsung officially recalled the Note 7 in mid-September, blaming the defect on a manufacturing error in batteries supplied by a Samsung subsidiary. The company quickly announced a replacement plan, providing Note 7 owners with new phones containing batteries made by a third-party supplier.

Then last week, a reportedly new Note 7 caught fire on board a Southwest Airlines plane. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission soon confirmed that it was investigating the incident, and all four major wireless carriers are telling Note 7 owners they can exchange their phone for any other model available.

Since then, there have been additional reports of new Note 7 devices catching fire, including one from Texas and another story out of Kentucky.

According to Yonhap, the production halt involves a “Samsung plant in Vietnam that is responsible for global shipments” of the Note 7.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile has updated its website to explain that it has stopped selling the replacement Note 7 devices.

AT&T and Verizon have similarly halted sales of the phone.

“Based on recent reports, we’re no longer exchanging new Note 7s at this time, pending further investigation of these reported incidents,” reads a statement emailed by AT&T to Consumerist. “We still encourage customers with a recalled Note 7 to visit an AT&T location to exchange that device for another Samsung smartphone or other smartphone of their choice.”

Verizon says that while the CPSC is investigating these latest incidents, the nation’s largest wireless provider is “suspending the exchange of replacement Note 7 smartphones. Any Verizon customer concerned about the safety of their replacement Note 7 smartphone may take it back to the original point of purchase to exchange it for another smartphone. Verizon online customers may also exchange their replacement Note 7 smartphones at Verizon stores.”

As of Sunday night when the news broke, Best Buy’s website still listed the Note 7 as available for sale for subscribers to any of the four major carriers.

We’ve written to the CPSC to see if the agency has any comment on this production halt and what it might mean for owners of the replacement Note 7 phones, but given the timing — a Sunday evening on a holiday weekend during perhaps the most high-profile presidential debate ever — we’re not surprised that we have yet to hear back.

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