Samsung has decided to temporarily suspend the production of the Galaxy Note 7, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The Galaxy Note 7 has been a nightmare for Samsung, beginning with the global recall program that the company launched for the smartphone after reports that some units caught fire after their batteries exploded. However, the replacement units that Samsung shipped for the Galaxy Note 7 have also been reported to have the same problem of exploding batteries.
The stoppage of production on the smartphone was told to Yonhap by an official at one of the suppliers of Samsung. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, added that the production suspension is in cooperation with consumer safety regulators in South Korea, China and the United States.
The measure, according to the official, includes one of Samsung's plants located in Vietnam, which is responsible for the global shipments of the controversial smartphone.
The decision to suspend production of the Galaxy Note 7, albeit temporarily, is not a surprising move for Samsung, as customers continue to be exposed to the risk of an exploding battery and a smartphone that could catch fire as a result.
A recent report revealed that Samsung has temporarily paused shipments of the replacement units of the smartphone to Australian carrier Telstra, showing that the company is applying a supply shutdown in at least one of its partner carriers.
In the memo that revealed the temporary shipment shutdown, however, Samsung said that it remains confident in the Galaxy Note 7 replacement units. It would seem that the confidence is not that solid, with the Yonhap report that the company is now also stopping the production of the device.
Major carriers in the United States, namely AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, have offered owners of the replacement units of the Galaxy Note 7 to swap their smartphone with any other available device. Amid the continuing reports of replacement devices still catching fire, it is highly recommended that owners of the smartphone take up the offer of the carriers and trade in their Galaxy Note 7 with another device to avoid the potential hazards associated with the defective batteries.
Does the temporary suspension on the production of the Galaxy Note 7 signal the end of the device's life? Deciding to discontinue the smartphone could be the only logical move left for Samsung, as the smartphone will likely not be able to recover from the issue. Instead, Samsung could figure out what caused the problem and make sure that it does not happen again in devices that it would be released in the future.
