Samsung Exchanging Galaxy Note 7 Smartphones Because of Potentially Exploding Batteries
— -- Two weeks after debuting it, Samsung said it was setting up an exchange program for its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after several were found to explode while charging.
In a statement, the South Korean tech giant said there had been 35 reported cases of phones with "a battery cell issue," and it would replace devices that had already been sold.
That process will start in about two weeks, the company said.
Additionally, sales of the phone will be suspended in 10 countries, including the United States. Sales in China will not be affected because a different battery supplier is used there.
No one is known to have been injured, but consumers have taken to social media in recent days to share images of melted or otherwise damaged devices.
Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile division, said an internal investigation revealed that bad battery cells had caused some of the devices to catch fire, according to the Associated Press. Koh did not specify which of the company's two battery suppliers had produced the batteries.
The company has sold over 1 million units since the smartphone debuted exactly two weeks ago, and manufactured another 1.5 million more units. The unsold devices will be replaced with new versions modified so that they would not be affected by the exploding battery problem.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the exchange program as a recall.
