Samsung received '26 false reports' of Note 7 fires
Samsung Electronics had 26 false reports from consumers alleging that their Galaxy Note 7 caught fire since its recall announcement earlier this month, the company has said.
Out of the 26 reports, the South Korean tech giant said that in 12 cases they found no fault with the devices. In seven cases, the reported victim could not be reached and in another seven incidents, the consumer cancelled the report or alleged that they threw away the device.
In the US, where 1 million devices were recalled, nine such cases were reported. There were three in South Korea, two in France, and one each from the UK, Canada, Singapore, Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam, Croatia, Romania, Iraq, Lebanon, the UAE, and Czech Republic.
In Korea, a worker at a convenience store alleged online that their phone exploded but Samsung said the person was currently unreachable.
The user in Canada used a picture they found of the Note 7 catching fire and posed it as their own, the company said, and in Singapore, a user claimed they threw the handset out of their car when it caught fire but could not show proof.
The device began official sales in 11 countries, with consumers from other nations receiving the handsets from online purchases.
China was not part of the global recall as handsets there used different batteries, according to Samsung. The company said one Chinese user's Note 7 exploding was in fact caused by "external heating".
After reports of the handsets catching fire, the world's largest phone maker commenced a global recall. It begun an exchange program in South Korea on Monday, while official sales will resume September 28.