Samsung Permanently Scraps All Galaxy Note 7 Production

Image courtesy of Reddit

Having to recall a line of premium, high-end smartphones once for exploding is bad enough. But when the replacement, supposedly safe phones also turn out to be unexpectedly flammable, well, that’s a sign that perhaps the phone is a dud and should be consigned to the scrap heap of device history for good. And, reports say, that’s exactly what Samsung is doing with the now-infamously defective Galaxy Note 7.

Sources in South Korea tell Reuters and the Wall Street Journal that the lemon line of phones is completely done for.

In a filing to South Korean regulators, Samsung has said it will permanently cease all production and sales of the Note 7 device. “Although the company controlled supply of the Galaxy Note 7 in an effort to strengthen quality and to further probe into the problems of the Galaxy Note 7, the company officially decided to halt the production of the model after halting the sales,” the Yonhap News Agency quotes the filing as saying.

A representative for Samsung confirmed the production halt, telling Consumerist, “For the benefit of consumers’ safety, we stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 and have consequently decided to stop production.”

In addition to all its U.S. woes and recall across North America, the Note 7 has become subject to a formal recall in China, where Samsung previously said that only non-defective units were sold. At least 20 cases of overheating or exploding Note 7 phones were identified in China.

A second recall, for phones sold in the U.S. after Sept. 15, has not yet been issued. However, since the CPSC is already urging device owners to stop using them, it seems distinctly possible that an expanded recall could be on the horizon.

One analyst told Reuters, “Samsung needs to take a giant write-down and cast the Note 7 to the engineering hall of shame next to the Ford Pinto,” perhaps the most infamously unsafe car sold in the United States due to its high risk of catching fire or exploding.

Here’s a timeline of how we got to where we are today.

Samsung officially halts production of Galaxy Note 7 [Yonhap News Agency]
Samsung to Permanently Discontinue Galaxy Note 7 Smartphone [Wall Street Journal]

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