Samsung ‘pausing’ shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 to some carriers

Samsung is yet to take any concrete steps to show that it has the situation under control while reports of replacement units exploding continue to pour in. A report out of Korea this morning claims that Samsung has temporarily suspended production of the Galaxy Note 7. Two of its biggest carrier partners in the United States – AT&T and T-Mobile – have decided to stop selling the flagship until it’s deemed completely safe. An internal memo from Australian carrier Telstra has found its way online, it mentions that Samsung has “temporarily paused” shipments of replacement Galaxy Note 7 units to the carrier.

Please be advised of some updates to the Samsung Note 7 Global Exchange program.

Samsung has temporarily paused the supply of new Galaxy Note7 smartphones following a reported incident in a replacement phone in the US. Samsung is confident in the replacement Note7 and says they have no reason to believe it’s not safe. We’ll let you know the status of your replacement Note7 as soon as we have more information.

We have contacted impacted customers to advise them of the delay.

From the looks of it, Samsung isn’t writing off the Galaxy Note 7 just yet and even though it’s not ruling out a safety issue yet it has no reason to believe that the handsets that were supposed to be safe in the first place are unsafe. Samsung has already said that it’s working diligently with authorities to investigate multiple reports of safe units catching fire.

Telstra has now issued a statement confirming that it’s no longer shipping replacement Galaxy Note 7 devices to its customers as Samsung investigates the latest reports. “We have asked Samsung to provide us with an update on their investigations as a matter of priority and will update our customers as soon as we learn more,” it added.

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T-Mobile stops all sales of the Galaxy Note 7 in the US

Following AT&T’s decision to remove the Galaxy Note 7 from its lineup, the US’ third-largest operator, T-Mobile, has decided to do the same.

Just like its competitor, T-Mo has not only permanently halted sales of the device, but is also restricting customers who own a recalled Galaxy Note 7 to exchange their device for a replacement model. The carrier is, instead, providing them with the option to swap it in for a different Samsung device or a smartphone from another manufacturer.

“Customers can still bring their recalled Note 7 or the new replacement Note 7, along with accessories they purchased from T-Mobile, to a T-Mobile store for a full refund and choose from any device in T-Mobile’s inventory,” said a representative on behalf of T-Mobile on Sunday.

This news comes shortly after a flurry of reports surfaced online claiming that replacement Galaxy Note 7s sporting safe batteries were bursting into flames. At present, the current toll stands seven, including the unit — believed to be the first — that led to a Southwest Airlines flight being evacuated on the runway when it spontaneously ignited before takeoff.

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Yet another safe Galaxy Note 7 has exploded, Samsung says it’s ‘working diligently with authorities’

Another day, another report of a safe Galaxy Note 7 exploding. The latest report comes out of Houston, Texas. The handset belongs to Daniel Franks who says that his Galaxy Note 7 burst into flames on the table while he was having lunch with his family. Franks says that it was a replacement unit he received from a Best Buy store late last month.

We have now seen almost ten different reports of this happening across the United States, Taiwan and South Korea. Samsung is yet to offer a concrete statement other than what it has already said about taking all such reports very seriously. The company’s carrier partners are reconsidering their support for this device. Both AT&T and T-Mobile have stopped selling the Galaxy Note 7. In a statement provided to The Verge, Samsung says “We are working diligently with authorities and third party experts and will share findings when we have completed the investigation,” adding that “Even though there are a limited number of reports, we want to reassure customers that we are taking every report seriously. If we determine a product safety issue exists, Samsung will take immediate steps approved by the CPSC to resolve the situation.”

A report out of South Korea this morning claims that Samsung has temporarily stopped production of the Galaxy Note 7 but the company is yet to confirm or deny that officially.

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Samsung reportedly suspends Galaxy Note 7 production

Following multiple reports of replacement Galaxy Note 7 units exploding in the same fashion as recalled units, a report out of Korea claims that Samsung has suspended production of the Galaxy Note 7 temporarily. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency cites an unnamed source in its report which claims that Samsung has halted the production of its flagship for now.

Samsung’s decision to temporarily suspend production has reportedly been made in cooperation with authorities in the United States, China and South Korea claimed an unnamed source at a Samsung partner company. For what it’s worth, Samsung has not yet commented on this report so there hasn’t been an official denial or confirmation from the company as yet.

Many reports have emerged in the past week of replacement Galaxy Note 7 devices exploding. These units were supposed to be safe and yet they appear to have the same issue as the recalled devices. Samsung’s carrier partners are already taking precautions. Not only are they allowing customers with replacement units to exchange their handsets for another device, AT&T has decided to completely stop sales of the Galaxy Note 7 until concrete steps are taken by Samsung to ensure that this issue is put to rest once and for all.

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It’s official: AT&T is discontinuing sales of the Galaxy Note 7

AT&T has confirmed in a statement issued to The Verge that it’s discontinuing sales of the Galaxy Note 7. In addition to removing the handset from its lineup, the carrier also revealed that it wouldn’t allow customers in possession of a recalled Note 7 to exchange it for a replacement model. Instead, they’ll be able to choose a different Samsung device or an offering from another manufacturer.

“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. “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.”

Now that AT&T  — the second-largest carrier in the US — has actually gone ahead and put an end to sales of the Galaxy Note 7, it shouldn’t be too much longer until other operators follow suit and place a permanent hold on sales of the unit. After all, no service provider wants to endorse a so-called “safe” product that has the potential to burst into flames at any moment in time without warning.

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Another safe Galaxy Note 7 has exploded this morning

Samsung needs to come up with an explanation fast. In just one week there have been four reports of safe Galaxy Note 7 units exploding in the United States, one in Taiwan and two in South Korea. It’s time now to add another to the list. A replacement Galaxy Note 7 has caught fire this morning in Virginia. The handset belongs to Shawn Minter who said that his Galaxy Note 7 started burning on his nightstand at 5:45 AM. It was a replacement unit that he received after returning his recalled Galaxy Note 7 at a Sprint store on September 23.

Minter said that the burning phone filled his bedroom with smoke so much so that he woke up in “complete panic.” He has shared copies of his receipts as well as photographs of the retail box which confirm that he had a replacement unit which Samsung promised would be safe from this issue that forced it to recall the flagship in the first place. Sprint representatives offered him another replacement Galaxy Note 7 but Minter turned it down and opted for a Galaxy S7.

Samsung is yet to comment on this latest incident, it has not yet confirmed officially if the replacement units also suffer from a battery cell defect like the original units. At this point a secondary recall can’t be ruled out since reports of supposedly safe units exploding continue to pour in. Something needs to be done before someone gets seriously injured, or worse.

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Gear VR’s footprint spans across 150 countries, has more than 400 apps

The Gear VR is Samsung’s first virtual reality headset. It worked on this product with Facebook-owned Oculus, a serious virtual reality company that has since released its own powerful tethered VR headset. Samsung and Oculus continue to collaborate on this product which has been successful despite the fact that VR is still a nascent medium. Head of Mobile at Oculus Max Cohen gave us all an idea of the Gear VR’s footprint at the Oculus Connect 3 developers conference where he revealed that the Gear VR now has millions of owners across 150 countries and has more than 400 VR apps.

Cohen also mentioned that it’s possible for people to demo the Gear VR at more than 15,000 retail locations across the United States alone. The Gear VR now supports 18 languages with English, French, German, Korean and Spanish being the top five. The Oculus platform plays host to more than 400 apps just for Gear VR and the company says that this number will surge to almost 500 by the end of this year. Samsung recently launched an improved version of the Gear VR which comes with minor performance improvements as well as a completely new paint job.

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