Samsung halts sales of Galaxy Note 7 after new troubles
SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung said it is halting sales of the star-crossed Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after a spate of fires involving new devices that were supposed to be safe replacements for recalled models.
Separately, South Korean safety authorities said they found a possibility of a new product defect in the new Note 7 that may not be related to its batteries and urged consumers to stop using them. One of the safety officials said they have no idea when they could identify what caused the new Note 7 to catch fire.
“We would have not taken this measure if it had looked like things could end so easily,” Oh Yu-cheon, a senior official at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards that oversees product recalls, said in a phone interview. “It will take more time than we expected” to find the cause of the problems.
Oh said the investigators are looking into a new defect that is different from the one identified by Samsung in its earlier investigation of the first batch of Galaxy Note 7. Last month, Samsung said a tiny manufacturing error in the battery was to be blamed for fire. “The improved product does not have the same defect. That’s why we think there is a new defect,” Oh said.