14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung is close to completing the global recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and providing owners with safe batteries. However, it seems that a recent incident involving a safe unit shows that Samsung isn’t out of the woods just yet.
A Galaxy Note 7 phone began popping and smoking on Wednesday morning aboard a Southwest Airlines flight, causing the evacuation of the plane while it was still on the ground. Nobody aboard the plane was injured, but the flight was canceled.
Brian Green, the owner of the Galaxy Note 7 in question, had just powered down his device when it started making a popping noise and smoking. He threw the smartphone on the ground. It seems that the Note 7 was part of the replacement batch that Green received two weeks ago from a local AT&T store. Samsung said multiple times that the battery issue was resolved in safe Galaxy Note 7 units.
In a statement issued after the incident, the company stated, "We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause. Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share."
The CPSC launched an investigation on the incident
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has already begun an investigation on the matter. "CPSC is moving expeditiously to investigate this incident," said the agency's chairman Elliott F. Kaye.
The Commission has already contacted Samsung and the FAA to get more details on the incident and urges consumers with faulty Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to keep them powered down and get replacements from Samsung, according to TechnoBuffalo.
The South Korean company responded that, until it retrieves the device, it cannot confirm that the incident involved a safe Galaxy Note 7 unit. Surely, after Samsung investigates the matter, a statement will be made.
Last month, the FAA issued a warning saying that consumers must power down and avoid charging faulty Galaxy Note 7 units on planes. The smartphone was even banned from check-in luggage at multiple airlines in several countries around the world, due to safety concerns.
