Samsung has finally shut down the Galaxy Note 7, as reports of exploding batteries continue to come in even among replacement devices.
Yesterday, an official from one of Samsung's suppliers told the Yonhap news agency that the company has decided to temporarily suspend the production of the Galaxy Note 7, in cooperation with consumer safety regulators in South Korea, China and the United States.
A day after, in a post uploaded on Samsung's official website, the company said that it will ask its retail and carrier partners all over the world to stop sales for the Galaxy Note 7, including exchanges for replacements units.
Samsung said that it is working with the authorities to investigate recent cases involving the Galaxy Note 7. However, while the investigation is ongoing, and to maintain the safety of consumers as the top priority, Samsung has decided to pull the plug on the smartphone's sales and exchanges.
In addition to the announcement of the suspension of sales, Samsung has also given an official warning to all owners of the original and replacement units of the Galaxy Note 7 to stop using the smartphones and switch them off. Customers are also advised to take advantage of the different replacement offers available for the controversial device.
The move to shut down sales was applauded by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.
"It is the right move for Samsung to suspend the sale and exchange of all Galaxy Note 7s," said chairman Elliot Kaye, adding that the commission will continue being involved in the investigation of the issues surrounding the smartphone.
With Samsung stopping sales and replacements, along with the official warning to owners to power down the smartphone, this could be the final nail in the coffin for the Galaxy Note 7. There is still the possibility that Samsung could once again release the smartphone after thoroughly fixing the battery issues, but with the badly damaged public image of the device, that is highly unlikely.
All the major carriers in the United States, namely AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, have offered to replace Galaxy Note 7 units with other available smartphones. Among them, AT&T was the first one to stop offering the replacement Galaxy Note 7 to customers amid the reports that they were catching fire due to still having the exploding batteries found in the original batch of the smartphone.
With the Galaxy Note 7 discontinued, Samsung should instead focus on determining the root cause of the problem and make sure that it does not happen again in the company's future products.
