Did Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Exploding Batteries Lead South Korea Giant To Halt Shipments?

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced that it is temporarily putting a stop to the shipments of its very popular Galaxy Note 7, without indicating when consumers can expect shipments to resume. The abrupt decision appears to have been elicited by complaints of exploding batteries.

On Wednesday, Apple Inc.’s biggest rival informed reporters of its decision to halt the shipments of its latest flagship device, saying: “Galaxy Note 7 shipments are being delayed as devices are undergoing additional quality inspection tests.”

Samsung's statement was very straightforward that it did not include specific details on what additional tests would the company be conducting. Also, the statement did not mention which markets are going to be affected by this delay, Reuters reports.

A Samsung official told the Wall Street Journal that he could not reveal specific details about the inspections and the specific problems with the phones that will be tested.

While Samsung did not disclose what triggered it to reach such a hasty decision, there are reports that link this delay to the complaints made by Galaxy Note 7 owners of their handsets exploding or catching fire while charging their batteries.

If such problems were confirmed, Fortune believes that the issue could cause a major blow to the top smartphone maker in the world, since the tech company is relying on the sales of its Galaxy Note 7 for the remaining half of the year.

Moreover, should the quality control issue get out of hand, the Note 7 demand could be greatly affected and this could lead to history repeating itself. It can be noted that the Galaxy S6 edge sales slumped when production for its curved display became a big problem.

Aside from the exploding battery issue, Samsung may also want to look into complaints of devices crashing, bootlooping and bricking as previously reported. Apparently, some users and even PhoneArena have been complaining about experiencing problems with their Exynos 8890-powered Galaxy Note 7 handsets just a few days of regular use.