NEW YORK — The Consumer Product Safety Commission is urging owners of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 to stop using their phones while the agency works with the company to formalize a recall.
The warning comes a week after Samsung announced a voluntary recall of 2.5 million phones worldwide because of a battery problem believed to affect 0.1% of all devices. Some customers reported that their Note 7s caught fire.
A government recall would outlaw the selling of the phone. In its statement, the agency asked owners of the Note 7 “to power them down and stop charging or using the device” in the meantime.
An official recall will come “as soon as possible,” the agency said.
Samsung, based in South Korea, has been offering customers a different phone, the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge, and a $25 gift card or bill credit.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday advised airline passengers to not use or charge their Note 7s on board an aircraft and not to stow the phones in checked baggage.
