Careful with your Samsung Galaxy Note 7!

Seoul, Sept. 2 (EFE).- Samsung Electronics announced Friday that it will recall its smart phone “phablet” Galaxy Note 7, after several users reported that their devices had burned while charging.

The South Korean electronics giant will stop the sales of Note 7 provisionally in several countries and offer users temporary replacements of another phone model, said the director of the Samsung’s mobile phone division, Koh Dong-jin, at a press conference.

Koh said that Note 7 users can go to a technical support center to install a software that detects problems in the phone. Then, while the phone is being repaired, users can use any other model available at the center.

Following an investigation, Samsung Electronics concluded that the explosions were caused by faulty batteries, said Koh, adding that 24 faulty batteries were detected out of a total of one million mobiles.

The Galaxy Note 7, a “phablet” with curved edges, stylus and features boasting of total water resistance and an iris scanner went on sale worldwide on Aug. 19.

Since then, several users reported that the device caught on fire while it was charging, and some users even circulated videos online to prove it.

The massive recall, unprecedented for Samsung since the company started selling smart devices in 2010, could deal a fatal blow to the South Korean company that has just started regaining strength in the market after losing ground to Apple in recent years. EFE