Timeline of Samsung's replacement Galaxy Note 7 woes
Things go from bad to worse, as Samsung's "safe" phones reportedly cause fires and result in hospital admissions in the US.
Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 was, at launch, a device of great promise.
With a big AMOLED screen, excellent camera, useful tools for its stylus and a big battery that lasted for hours, it seemed like a lust-worthy object that would surely result in another big sales success for Samsung.
Then the batteries started to catch on fire.
Samsung had no choice but to set in motion a worldwide recall last month. The company offered to replace customers' original Note 7 phones with new devices, supposedly free from the manufacturing errors that caused the battery problems.
Then the replacement Note 7s started experiencing problems too.
Since then, two US carriers have ceased offering the Note 7, and recommend its customers switch devices. The company has "temporarily adjusted" the production of the Note 7 to figure out if there are any problems. It's unclear if consumers want to take a third crack at the phone.
Here's the post-recall run down:
- October 5 -- A Southwest Airlines flight at Louisville International Airport was evacuated because of a smoking Samsung device, according to Louisville Metro Arson investigators.
- October 7 -- A Minnesota teenager told a Minneapolis-St. Paul TV station that she felt a "weird, burning sensation" in her thumb while holding her Galaxy Note 7 Friday afternoon.
- October 8 -- News broke that a Kentucky man had to go to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation after another replacement Galaxy Note 7 caught fire earlier that week. It later emerged that Samsung may have been involved in trying to cover up the story.
- October 8 -- Samsung is told by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission it could face an unusual second recall of the Galaxy Note 7.
- October 8 -- All US carriers allow customers to swap "safe" Note 7 devices for any other phone in stores.
- October 9 -- A man from Virginia reported that his replacement phone had caught fire on his nightstand.
- October 9 -- The second replacement Note 7 to catch fire in a day is reported by a man in Houston, Texas.
- October 9 -- AT&T suspended exchanges of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 amid reports that replacement phones are also exploding or catching fire.