U.S. safety regulators started an official recall of Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, about two weeks after the company halted sales following reports of dozens of the devices catching fire or exploding.
Samsung is recalling about 1 million of the phones because a battery flaw can lead to overheating, posing a serious burn hazard to consumers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday in a statement. That represents about 97 percent of the Note 7 devices that hit the U.S. market, CPSC chairman Elliot Kaye said at a press conference. Samsung told regulators the phone’s battery was slightly too big for its compartment and the tight space pinched the battery, causing it to short circuit, Kaye said.
