Samsung Galaxy Note 7: US urges consumers to stop using devices after dozens of batteries exploded
The US' consumer safety authority has urged all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners to stop using their phones, ahead of issuing an official recall, piling more pressure on the South Korean electronics giant.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission released advice yesterday for users to switch their phones off until they can be replaced.
Samsung, the world's biggest smart phone manufacturer, has sold 2.5m Galaxy Note 7s already.
But the company was forced into an embarrassing recall at the beginning of this month following reports that 35 phones' batteries had gone up in flames while charging or in normal use.
By the time it issued the recall, the device had only been on sale for a few weeks and was only available in 10 countries, quashing the company's goal to provide a significant competitor to Apple's new iPhone 7.
Read more: Samsung had the smartphone bump Apple was missing
The Note 7 was lauded as being even more advanced than the most recently available iPhones, featuring eye-scanning technology that moved a step beyond Apple's use of biometrics.
It is also waterproof to depths of five feet, has a curved screen and is compatible with a new VR headset.
Earlier this week three Australian airlines – Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia – banned the use of the phones on board, while yesterday another official US body, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), told flight passengers not to take the new Samsung phone with them on flights because of the combustion and fire hazard risk.
The FAA's advice specified that owners should not turn on or charge their phones, and that they should not put their phones into checked baggage.
A video from Galaxy Note 7 owner Ariel Gonzalez that reportedly depicts her phone after the battery combusted has been widely shared on social media.
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