Samsung has had a pretty rough launch for the Galaxy Note 7. It all started out pretty good for the company. It launched in August without a hitch, received glowing reviews from reviewers. Then the Galaxy Note 7 became hot, literally. A few reports of the Galaxy Note 7 bursting into flames began to surface, and over the following weeks, more and more happened. In mid-September, when Samsung finally recalled the device in the US, there had been over 92 reports of fires from the device in the US alone. Not something that is common at all.
The company began exchanging units in late September and then this month they began sales of the device once again in South Korea and the US. Samsung thought that everything was all set. But it looks like there may be a bigger issue here for the company. This week, a Galaxy Note 7 onboard a Southwest Airlines flight started smoking before the plane took off. Luckily everyone was evacuated safely, and no one was harmed. Many figured it was an older Galaxy Note 7 that hadn’t been replaced. But sure enough, it was one of the “safe” Galaxy Note 7’s. A similar thing happened in Taiwan this morning as well, with a “safe” Galaxy Note 7.
Today, Samsung released a statement to TechCrunch about the situations that unfolded this week with the replacement Galaxy Note 7’s:
“Samsung understands the concern our carriers and consumers must be feeling after recent reports have raised questions about our newly released replacement Note7 devices. We continue to move quickly to investigate the reported case to determine the cause and will share findings as soon as possible. We remain in close contact with the CPSC throughout this process. If we conclude a safety issue exists, we will work with the CPSC to take immediate steps to address the situation. We want to reassure our customers that we take every report seriously and we appreciate their patience as we work diligently through this process.”
It’s important to note here that Samsung has not said that there is an issue with their replacement devices, but they are looking into it with the CPSC to make sure that this was just an isolated incident and not something that is affecting all of the Galaxy Note 7 devices that are replacements. If this is an issue that all replacements are going to have, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 nightmare will be far from over. It’s already rumored that AT&T will stop selling the Galaxy Note 7 permanently, and if a second recall happens, the other carriers will likely pull the Galaxy Note 7 for good.