Samsung Halts Production Of Note 7 After Retailers Stop Sales

Samsung has halted production of its beleaguered Galaxy Note 7 model after reports that several of the replacement phones have also caught fire. The phone model had originally shipped with battery defects that resulted in over 70 reported cases of the phone exploding spontaneously, resulting in Samsung recalling and replacing them.

This latest announcement from Samsung follows earlier reports that major telecom carriers including AT&T and T-Mobile had declared that they were ceasing sales and replacement of the model due several replacement phones also proving to be being defective. Five of the replacement phones have so far been reported to have overheated or caught fire. Both Samsung and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission are investigating the matter.

A report in Recode said that AT&T has decided that there will be no sales of the model until the investigation into the incidents are over and the phones are deemed safe.

"Based on recent reports, we're no longer exchanging new Note 7s at this time, pending further investigation of these reported incidents," said an AT&T spokesperson said in a statement. "We still encourage customers with a recalled Note 7 to visit an AT&T location to exchange that device for another Samsung smartphone or other smartphone of their choice."

T-Mobile has also announced that it was halting all sales and replacement of Note 7 as a result of the issue. It will be offering refunds or sell another device to those who don't want a replacement Note 7.

"While Samsung investigates multiple reports of issues, T-Mobile is temporarily suspending all sales of the new Note 7 and exchanges for replacement Note 7 devices," T-Mobile said on its website.

Sprint has earlier offered to replace Note 7 for any other device while the investigation is ongoing.

Samsung stated to the BBC it was "adjusting the production schedule to ensure quality and safety matters".

The latest reported incident is that of a Note 7 owned by a man in Kentucky Michael Klering catching fire while he was sleeping. He told a local news channel that he woke up at 4 a.m to find his room filled with smoke.

"The phone is supposed to be the replacement, so you would have thought it would be safe," said Klering to WKYT. "It wasn't plugged in. It wasn't anything, it was just sitting there."