Samsung Electronics has suspended production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones following reports of fires in replacement devices, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday citing an unnamed source.
The smartphone giant's decision to temporarily halt Note 7 production was done in cooperation with authorities in China, United States and China, according to the source.
Samsung did not immediately comment on the report.
A number of Galaxy Note 7 phones intended as replacements have now reportedly caught fire, the latest belonging to a man in Kentucky.
Michael Klering told local news outlet WKYT he woke up at 4am and his bedroom was filled with smoke.
"The phone is supposed to be the replacement, so you would have thought it would be safe," he said.
At the end of last week another replacement phone erupted on a Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville to Baltimore, according to tech news site The Verge.
Owner Brian Green had just turned the phone off when it began smoking. He dropped it onto the plane floor, and "thick grey-green angry smoke" began pouring out.
He told the site he got the phone on September 21, and supplied a photo of its box that showed it was a replacement phone Samsung had deemed safe.
Samsung told The Verge it was "working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause" of the problem.
Reuters / Newshub.
