Samsung Kills Galaxy Note 7 Due To Unexplained Explosions, Oculus Suffers With It

Samsung has officially halted production of its Galaxy Note 7 phablet after a series of explosions involving the replacement units of the device. The rest of the devices that are currently out in the market are already being recalled and customers still using the handset are encouraged to turn them off. Samsung isn’t the only company affected by this incident, however, as Oculus will also suffer the consequences.

Samsung cited customer safety as its highest priority when it announced that there will be no more Note 7 phablets sold in the market, The Verge reports. As with the first round of exploding incidents, the company is again urging consumers to return the device to their carriers. Handsets will be replaced by another device from Samsung or other smartphone brands.

Aside from the fact that the phones have been exploding, perhaps the most disturbing part of the whole affair is that no one knows exactly what’s wrong with the devices. As The New York Times reports, Samsung’s engineers have been trying to find out what the cause for the Note 7 explosions is and have thus far failed.

Hundreds of employees have apparently been tasked to look into the matter, with many trying to replicate the events that led to the incendiary effects of the units. Yet, despite repeated attempts, they have not been able to duplicate what customers have been experiencing when their phones started issuing tarry smoke before combusting.

As a result, the South Korean giant had no other recourse than to kill one of the most promising smartphones for 2016. In the case of Oculus, the Note 7 proved too promising since it staked much of its “Gear VR” product’s success on the device.

According to Tech Crunch, the mobile VR headset was substantially reliant on Samsung. Although the Galaxy S7 was what allowed the rig to grow in popularity among smartphone users, it also saw a significant following among Note 7 users.

Thanks to the incident with the phablet, the “Gear VR’s” sales are likely to suffer as well. This is a shame since, prior to Samsung’s announcement that it would be discontinuing production of the Note 7, it was estimated that 2.3 million of the VR headset would be sold by the end of 2016.