Following reports of Samsung temporarily suspending the production of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, the South Korean giant on Monday issued a statement saying the company is "adjusting the device's production schedule to ensure quality and safety".
"We are temporarily adjusting the Galaxy Note 7 production schedule in order to take further steps to ensure quality and safety matters," US-based technology website Android Central quoted a company statement as saying.
Amid reports that some Note 7 replacements have caught fire, Yonhap news agency on Monday reported that Samsung has temporarily suspended the production of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
"This measure includes a Samsung plant in Vietnam that is responsible for global shipments (of the Galaxy Note 7)," a company official said.
Samsung started selling the Note 7 in South Korea on August 19 but announced a global recall of 2.5 million units in September following reports of some of the devices catching fire while being charged.
The company has encouraged owners of the Note 7 to swap their devices with new ones, but recently a replacement Note 7 device reportedly caught fire on a US flight, leading to cancellation of the flight after evacuation.
More From This Section
According to The Verge, Southwest Airlines flight 994 from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated during the boarding process after a smoked Galaxy Note 7 was spotted.
The owner of the device said that the phone was letting off a "thick grey-green angry smoke" and had burnt through the carpet and "scorched the subfloor of the plane".
Recently, India's civil aviation regulator lifted the restrictions on in-flight use of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone -- but only those purchased after September 15.
On September 9, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had prohibited the use of the high-end smartphone on-board aircraft.
Despite the global recall of this flagship device, Samsung Electronics on Friday released a positive forecast for the third quarter of this year, expecting operating profits of 7.8 trillion Korean won (approx $7 billion) and revenues of 49 trillion Korean won.
The operating profits are a 5.6 per cent increase on the same period a year ago when the company registered 7.4 trillion won in operating profits, Samsung Electronics said in its earnings guidance for the third quarter.
--IANS
sku/ask/dg