Samsung’s worldwide recall of the Galaxy Note 7 has been great in some areas, although it would seem not in all areas. In South Korea, a number of replacement units have already made their way into the hands of consumers. Samsung began issuing replacement phones to affected consumers on Monday, but it seems that complaints are already coming in. South Korea has laid out rules for Samsung to make sure that the batteries in new Galaxy Note 7 units are not dangerous or damaged, but the batteries in the new units are exactly what consumers in the country are now complaining about. On Thursday, South Korean news network YTN started airing reports of consumer complaints, which reportedly caused Samsung shares to plummet 2.5%, after they had finally started to rise again. According to the reports coming in, Samsung has come forward to publicly acknowledge the issue on Friday.
According to recipients of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the units are acting up in some very specific ways that point to issues with the batteries. For instance, the new phones are experiencing issues such as overheating, as well as losing battery charge while actually being charged. While no units have been reported to have caused any damage or suffered any fatal malfunctions as of yet, the issues that are being reported are ones which would seem to directly relate to the batteries. Although such behaviors could be related to other factors, such as short circuits or material defects within the devices. However, as the batteries were the reason behind the recall of the initial run of Galaxy Note 7 units, it stands to reason that battery issues will likely be the defect on everybody’s mind.
According to comments Samsung has reportedly made, the issues are “isolated” and not related to a larger battery issue. Instead, Samsung is insisting that the issues being reported in South Korea are related to minor errors with the mass production of the new units. They have not yet confirmed how many cases they’re dealing with in South Korea, or if similar reports are coming out of other countries at the moment and details have yet to be given as to how Samsung is planning on dealing with these reports.