The South Korean media is reporting that Samsung has suspended production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, following one of the most bungled smartphone launches in history.

Over the weekend, AT&T confirmed that it will no longer issue new Note 7 handsets, while T-Mobile has also said it is halting sales. This follows news that Samsung’s supposedly fixed replacement handsets have also been running into battery problems causing them to burst into flames.

Samsung’s latest smartphone — which was met with tremendous reviews upon its release — suffered another damaging bit of publicity last week after Southwest Airlines was forced to evacuate a flight from Louisville to Baltimore on which a Note 7 replacement handset caught fire.

Reports suggest that the owner powered down his handset and put it in his pocket when it began smoking. The phone was then dropped, after which thick grey-green smoke poured out of it.

This is far from the only similar report that has been made about the handset, which Samsung allegedly rushed to market to beat Apple. Samsung carried out a worldwide recall of the first batch of Samsung Note 7 devices, although it seems the replacements don’t work any better.

Given that the first recall of the Note 7 reportedly cost in the region of $1 billion, it will be interesting to see what the second recall costs, should Samsung go down that route.

Of course, that’s without even factoring in the damage this may have done to the brand…

Source: Guardian