After a battery fault in the handset caused overheating and fires, Samsung launched an official recall of the Galaxy Note7 in Australia (and worldwide) on 2 September, with replacement handsets arriving in the country on 22 September.
Now, following reports of the replacement handsets also catching fire, shipments of all Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones to Australia have been put on hold.
Update: Those reports have been confirmed. A Telstra spokesperson supplied Gizmodo Australia with the following statement that a temporary pause had been placed on local replacement devices being delivered to customers by the telco:
“We have temporarily paused shipping replacement Galaxy Note7 smartphones to our customers while Samsung investigates reported incidents in the U.S. We have asked Samsung to provide us with an update on their investigations as a matter of priority and will update our customers as soon as we learn more.
“In the meantime we are helping customers with loan phones and for those who do not wish to wait for the exchange program a change-over to an alternative smartphone.”
Vodafone has supplied a similar comment: “Vodafone is pausing the replacement program for the new Samsung Galaxy Note7 following reported incidents overseas. We’ll keep customers updated on the status of this program as we receive more information from Samsung.”
The Verge reports that an internal memo from Telstra details a change to the Note 7 Global Exchange program temporarily pausing supply of the smartphone to the telco.
Here is the memo:
Please be advised of some updates to the Samsung Note 7 Global Exchange program.
Samsung has temporarily paused the supply of new Galaxy Note7 smartphones following a reported incident in a replacement phone in the US. Samsung is confident in the replacement Note7 and says they have no reason to believe it’s not safe. We’ll let you know the status of your replacement Note7 as soon as we have more information.
We have contacted impacted customers to advise them of the delay.
Gizmodo has contacted Telstra and Samsung for comment.