Experts Say Samsung Bungled Recall of Exploding Phones

Days after Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones because they were catching fire, some stores in the US were still selling them, the New York Times reports. According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission didn't even issue a statement on the hazardous phones until Sept. 9—one week after Samsung's recall—and didn't issue its own official recall notice until Thursday. Experts say that in its haste to recall the Note 7, which was being called the "most impressive smartphone ever" when it was released last month, Samsung botched the execution, especially in the US where it failed to coordinate with the CPSC

The recall of 2.5 million phones in 10 countries—the largest recall in smartphone history—has already cost Samsung up to $14 billion in market value and could set it back years in the credibility department. “Samsung cannot afford to lose an inch of competitive ground to Apple in its home US market," one expert says. The official CPSC recall comes just one day before the Apple iPhone 7 is being released, CNN reports. The CPSC is asking that all 1 million Note 7s sold in the US be turned off immediately. There have been 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage from the exploding phones in the US alone. And thanks to Samsung's questionable execution of its recall, delivery of safer replacement phones to US customers could be delayed. (More Samsung stories.)