Samsung may have gotten the ball rolling early with a self-imposed replacement program, but the U.S. government on Thursday made it official: the company’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone is recalled.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced an official recall of approximately 1 million Note 7 devices in the United States. The recall extends to devices with a 5.7-inch screen in the colors black onyx, blue coral, gold platinum and silver titanium, the announcement said. The recall includes all devices purchased from August through September 2016 across all five major U.S. wireless carriers – including AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon and U.S. Cellular – as well as Best Buy stores and Samsung.com, the announcement said.
The CPSC said the recall comes in the wake of 92 reports of batteries overheating in the United States, including 26 burn reports and 55 property damage reports that included fires in cars and garages. That figure was more than double the 35 cases globally cited by Samsung when it initiated a self-imposed recall of the device at the start of September.
The commission urged consumers to immediately cease using the device, power down and switch devices to avoid issues.
Users should contact the wireless carrier, retail outlet or Samsung website where the device was purchased to receive a new Galaxy Note 7 with a safe battery, a refund or replacement device, the commission said.
The U.S. recall announcement comes three days after Canada issued a similar recall of nearly 22,000 Galaxy Note 7 devices and two days after Mexico issued a recall for nearly 15,000 of the devices sold through AT&T, Telefonica Movistar and Liverpool. Canada’s recall notice stated only one report of an overheating battery had been received, with no reports of injury. Mexico’s notice said no battery incidents had been reported in the country at the time of the recall.
According to a Thursday video message from Samsung Electronics America President and COO Tim Baxter, said around 13 percent of the impacted devices have already been exchanged in the United States.
“The CPSC has worked closely with us to develop, expedite and execute a plan to protect American consumers,” Baxter said. “To date, we already have exchanged 130,000 units – a fast and meaningful start – and with the CPSC’s partnership, we will continue implementing corrective steps to exchange every single Note 7 on the market….To our Note 7 owners, if you have not yet replaced your original Note 7, please, please power it down and return it.”
Baxter said new Note 7 devices will be available for replacement no later than Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Baxter stressed the replacement Note 7 phones are safe and said the “battery cell issue is resolved.”
