By Jill Disis
Federal consumer safety regulators on Thursday formally recalled 1 million Galaxy Samsung Note 7 smartphones after dozens of users reported the device caught fire while charging.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission told customers to “immediately stop using and power down” the device.
Samsung said on September 2 that it would stop selling Galaxy Note 7s. The company has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the U.S., including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage from fires fires, the CPSC said Thursday.
Since then, Samsung has urged customers to turn off the phone and contact their carrier or Samsung to get a free replacement.
In the meantime, the FAA told airline passengers to turn off the phones when flying due to the safety risk. And the CPSC asked Note 7 owners last week “to power them down” while a recall plan was in the works.
Outside the U.S., Samsung has offered other solutions to consumers. In its home market of South Korea, the company says it will debut a new “battery-problem-free” Note 7 phones on Monday.
The company has sold 2.5 million of the devices worldwide since introducing them in August.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
