In an unprecedented move, Samsung will reportedly issue a recall of Galaxy Note 7 units shipped worldwide, after reports that some of the devices exploded while being charged.
"The most important thing is the safety of our customers and we don't want to disappoint our loyal customers," a Samsung official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Yonhap News Agency.
The move is set to cause a further dent in Samsung stock that took a hit Thursday after initial reports of quality issues with the Note 7 delaying worldwide shipments.
"We will share the findings as soon as possible. Samsung is fully committed to providing the highest quality products to our consumers," Samsung said in an official statement sent to various media outlets.
The development comes a few days before rival Apple is set to unveil new iPhone models in San Francisco next week, and will surely weaken Samsung's position in the market.
"Products installed with the problematic battery account for less than 0.1 percent of the entire volume sold. The problem can be simply resolved by changing the battery, but we'll come up with convincing measures for our consumers," said the official.
The report indicates that Samsung may not officially announce the recall on Friday as it is in talks with partners in the US on the issue.
"Global discussions are under way about matters such as how to deal with products delivered to dealers. Results of the investigation and relevant countermeasures will be made public this weekend or early next week at the latest," the official added.
Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 7 exactly a month ago on August 2 and it went on sale in 10 contries on August 10. The phone launched in India on August 11, and was supposed to start shipping from August 31, though Gadgets 360 understands majority of the retailers have not received Note 7 units after quality issues were discovered in the interim.
We've reached out to Samsung India for a statement and will update this report as and when we hear from them.
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