Samsung Officially Halts Sales And Exchanges Of Galaxy Note 7

               After a month of crisis, Samsung is officially halting sales of the Galaxy Note 7 phablet.

On Monday, Samsung issued a call for all its carrier and retail partners to stop selling the device and cease making exchanges. Samsung also urged all Note 7 owners to turn the device off.

“We are working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7,” the statement reads. “Because consumers’ safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place.

“We remain committed to working diligently with the CPSC, carriers and our retail partners to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation,” the statement continues. “Consumers with an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 should power down and take advantage of the remedies available, including a refund at their place of purchase.”

Samsung has wrestled for the past month with the devastating launch of Note 7 as reports surfaced that the batteries were prone to catch fire. Regulators swooped in with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issuing an official recall of the device. Samsung cooperated with the agency. Soon after, Samsung began sending out replacement units using a different battery supplier. The replacement units have a green battery icon (instead of white) as well as a black square symbol on the packaging box.

But the replacement units didn’t seem to fix the battery issue. Over the past week, reports emerged that the supposedly safe replacement units of the Note 7 continued to catch fire. Last week, a Note 7 began spewing smoke while powered down on a Southwest Airlines flight and led to the evacuation of 75 passengers and crew members.

US carriers have already begun halting sales of the Note 7 on their own over the past few days. On Monday, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam spoke out about the severity of Samsung’s fumble at the Internet Association’s Virtuous Cycle conference. “This is by far the biggest concern I’ve seen in cellphones during my tenure,” said McAdam as quoted by CNBC. “I think [Samsung's] a little surprised the fix didn’t fix things. So it’s a major black eye for them. As I said to Tim Cook the other day, they’ve got pretty good karma, because they launched the iPhone 7 when they did.”

Korean news organization Yonhap News reported on Sunday that Samsung is temporarily suspended production of the Note 7. Samsung later said it’s temporarily “adjusting” the production schedule of Note 7 phones.

The Note 7 crisis has left Samsung’s dominance in the smartphone world vulnerable to newly released phones like Apple’s iPhone 7 and Google’s Pixel. Apple’s stock reached new highs for 2016 on Monday when shares jumped nearly 2%. Meanwhile, Samsung shares dropped 1.5% on Monday.

SOURCE: forbes.com