A Samsung spokeswoman pointed to an earlier statement about its washing machines in Australia, in which the company said thousands of refunds and replacements had been made and that customer safety was its top priority.

Yet the scale and prominence of the Galaxy Note 7 problem renews the spotlight on Samsung’s safety record in other product areas, even as the company grapples with the smartphone recall. On Wednesday, Samsung revised its third-quarter profit estimates to absorb $2 billion in losses. The company said it earned 5.2 trillion won in the third quarter, 33.3 percent less than the 7.8 trillion won profit it had estimated last week. It said it had also cut its sales estimate for the quarter by 2 trillion won, to 47 trillion won.

The revised profit for the third quarter showed a 29.6 percent drop from the same quarter last year. Shares of Samsung fell 0.65 percent on Wednesday after plunging 8 percent on Tuesday.

“Samsung has not been communicative with consumers, regulators or the media as clearly as it should have during this recall, especially for a hazard as dangerous as this one where your phone can catch on fire, damage your property and harm your family,” said William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports.

The smartphone recall is most likely unrelated to other Samsung product recalls that are now unfolding, like the one for the washing machines. That is because consumer electronics like TVs and kitchen appliances are made by a different Samsung division than the mobility group that is responsible for the smartphones.

In Australia, Samsung is in the process of a recall it started three years ago for top-loading washing machines that were prone to catching fire as a result of an internal electrical defect. Samsung said that as of last month, it had resolved the problem in 81 percent of the affected washers.

Yet many owners of the troubled Samsung washing machines contend their problems are far from resolved. For the recall in Australia, Samsung repaired the machines by fitting plastic bags over some connectors. A Facebook group with more than 4,000 owners of the recalled machines crowdfunded money to hire forensic experts to analyze the fix. The forensic reports concluded that the plastic bag was ineffective because it did not prevent moisture penetration of the connectors.