Samsung delays Galaxy Note 7 sales in South Korea

In a bid to speed up the ongoing recall programme in South Korea, Samsung has delayed the sales of new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones by three days to 1 October. The sales were initially slated for 28 September.

The global recall of about 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 different markets including South Korea was announced on 2 September after reported cases of some devices exploding while charging.

"The recall rate will likely fall sharply should new sales have resumed on Sept 28," the company said. Affected consumers will not be able to exchange their devices through domestic carriers starting 1 October, reports Reuters.

The company wants to complete the recall process quickly so that it could restart sales in the fourth quarter to salvage its earnings. But there are obvious hurdles in the process the company is facing in the country.

Although the Note 7 exchange programme started on Monday (19 September), so far only 200,000 consumers in South Korea have replaced their affected devices. This figure, according to Samsung, represents half of the affected customers. Besides, the recall process in South Korea is quite slow compared to other markets such as Singapore and the US.

In the US, about half of recalled Note 7 units have already been exchanged after the replacement drive started on 20 September. In a statement it said: "Samsung Electronics America, Inc announced today that about half of all recalled Galaxy Note7 phones sold in the US have been exchanged through Samsung's voluntary recall."

"Additionally, 90% of Galaxy Note7 owners have been opting to receive the new Galaxy Note7 since the phones became widely available on Wednesday, September 21."

The company hopes to resume sales in affected markets after seeing enough progress with the recall. In Singapore and Australia, the sales will resume in October, whereas the sales will restart across Europe by late November.

Samsung has been urging consumers to take part in the exchange programme as there have been continued reports about Note 7 fires and damage even after the recall, and also bans on the use and charging on Note 7 on airlines.