Samsung halts shipments of Note 7 and recall in the works

First, there were reports that several Galaxy Note 7 units had exploded while charging. Then we learned Samsung had suspended shipments in Korea while it investigated the issue, and now a new report claims the company could be forced to announce a full-blown recall.

The latest update comes from Yonhap News, which also broke the news that Samsung had paused the Galaxy Note 7 release earlier this week. An anonymous company official revealed that Samsung is already in talks with Verizon and other launch partners about a potential recall, and noted the issue might only affect a tiny percentage of smartphone units.

“Products installed with the problematic battery account for less than 0.1 percent of the entire volume sold,” the source said. “The problem can be simply resolved by changing the battery, but we’ll come up with convincing measures for our consumers.”

Samsung is still investigating the issue, but it’s expected to make an official statement either this weekend or early next week. A recall is likely, according to Yonhap, though it’s unclear exactly how that would work or how it might affect the company’s credibility moving forward.

“The most important thing is the safety of our customers and we don’t want to disappoint our loyal customers,” the source told Yonhap.

I've reached out to Samsung for comment and we’ll update this post if we learn anything new. However, it sounds like we won’t have a definitive answer until this weekend at the soonest. Stay tuned.