In the U.S., Samsung says 500,000 of the smartphones had been handed in as of Thursday. While regulators in the company’s home country, South Korea, ordered it to extend the refund period there and beef up battery safety.

Fresh reports of overheating and batteries losing life quickly have surfaced for new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 units after exchange for the handsets began earlier on Monday in South Korea following its recall, according to South Korean broadcaster YTN.

Broadcaster YTN conducted its own investigation, which showed that a phone charged 75 percent actually lost battery power to 49 percent once it was jacked to a charging wire after 39 minutes.

The phone’s own battery usage graph showed that charging was inconsistent, the news said. For its part, Samsung is adamant these are little more than “isolated cases” having to do with mass production issues, “completely unrelated to batteries”, and due for “close examinations” in the coming weeks.

It is estimated that the total recall has would dig a deep hole in the companies pockets, while the general perception about the latest flagship has been highly damaged. The series of incidents took place when Samsung has been experiencing one of the best financial year due to the S7’s success. Undoubtedly Note 7 is a fabulous device that was meant to take on Apple’s latest offering, but we all know it didn’t go that way.

Via: ZDNet