Samsung has now officially stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7 globally, following numerous new reports of devices smoking and catching fire, with some even resulting in injury, and after all four major U.S. carriers have issued statements that they are halting sales and exchanges of the device across their retail channels. While it was already known that some carriers would be stopping the sales of the device (EE and Vodafone in the UK have halted sales as of earlier this morning), some may have missed the fact that exchanges are also not possible, meaning users who were wanting to replace their Galaxy Note 7 will now have to do so with a completely different phone.
In Samsung’s official statement today, they mention that they’re working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate these new reports of replacement Galaxy Note 7 devices having the same issues as before, which is a crucial detail as the CPSC is who Samsung issued a joint statement with for the initial formal recall of the first batch of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones, before replacements hit stores. While it was already rumored to be on the horizon, a second recall has not yet been confirmed by Samsung, although the following events of the last week or so may change that, and Samsung may have to issue what could very well be not just the second recall of the phone, but the final recall as well as Samsung would likely have a very tough time trying to sell customers on the Galaxy Note 7 again after this second round of incidents.
The formal statement from Samsung that they’re officially stopping sales and exchanges of the device follows an earlier issued statement from the company that they were simply going to “adjust the production” of Galaxy Note 7 units until they finish their investigations, but, it’s clear now that the company may have actually had to change their decision and immediately request that sales and exchanges are more than adjusted. What’s more, is that this is now happening on a global scale and not just in various regions, and Samsung is asking that all carriers and retailers worldwide discontinue sales and exchanges of phones, while also asking that all customers who already own a Galaxy Note 7 power the phones down and return them. It is worth mentioning that Samsung does state they’re asking global retail partners and carriers to halt sales and exchanges while the investigation is taking place, so there is still potentially some chance that they may be considering an attempt to sell the device again the future once the investigation is over.