Samsung halts sales of Galaxy Note 7

Samsung is holding off on selling its newly released Galaxy Note 7 smartphone amid reports that the high-end phones are prone to catch fire while charging, due to faulty batteries.

The glitzy new gadget was launched on August 19 in South Korea and the United States.

The phone had not yet been made available in European markets - and its sales has now been halted worldwide.

Samsung issued a statement saying that it is "conducting a thorough inspection" with its partners on the Galaxy Note 7 and would share the results as soon as possible.

Before the issue of potentially exploding batteries emerged, supplies were unable to keep up with higher-than-expected demand.

Batteries in some of the large smartphones reportedly exploded while they were being charged. Citing an unnamed company official, the Yonhap news agency said Samsung's own investigation has so far concluded that flawed batteries caused the phone to catch fire.

But the company had said the scope of the phones with faulty batteries is limited "less than 0.1 percent," though it is not immediately clear how Samsung arrived at that figure.

At least five explosions were reported by consumers, according to Yonhap. The agency cited pictures and video clips of severely damaged phones shared in online communities, social media and YouTube, however, the authenticity of these accounts could not be immediately verified.

"Every year, there have been accidents of battery explosions but it is the first time that six or seven cases happened within such a short period after the launch of a new product," said Ha Joon-doo, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp.

bik/sms (AP, Reuters)