Uh oh. Replacement Samsung Note 7 phone catches fire on US flight

Time to hang up on Samsung?

Samsung is in hot water as replacement handsets for its Note 7 smartphones, which were recalled for catching fire, started to smolder during a flight in the US.

Samsung Note 7 owner Brian Green, whose phone had already been exchanged for a new one, has claimed that his phone caught fire during a Southwest airlines flight from Louisville, Kentucky, to Baltimore.

The news comes after the South Korean company recalled over 2.5m handsets after reports of them catching fire during charging.

Mark Johnson, an associate professor of operations management at Warwick Business School, who has researched product recalls, said:

“Samsung may now be stuck with an expensive and reputation denting second recall. Having a second recall will be costly and may result in the electronics giant cancelling the phone.

“The latest in a long line of incidents affecting the Samsung Note 7 indicates that there may be much more at fault with the phone than just faulty batteries from a supplier.

“Samsung are probably paying the price for trying to rush the Note 7 to market before the iPhone 7 was released. As such many of the challenges that are ironed out in extensive product testing may not have been found.”