Samsung’s next victim?
An as-yet unconfirmed fault with Samsung’s S7 smartphone has surfaced in New Zealand, a Kiwi customer believes.
Dunedin sound engineer Blair Mason said the glass covering the rear camera on his Samsung Galaxy S7 appeared to shatter spontaneously on Sunday evening.
Similar accounts of the camera glass on S7 phones shattering without explanation have been posted to a Samsung online forum by Samsung customers overseas and were reported by United States media outlets shortly after Christmas.
US law firm Keller Rohrback, which specialises in representing consumers in class-action lawsuits, has said it is investigating and has called for people who believe they may have been affected to contact its lawyers.
The Galaxy S7, which sells for upwards of $745, is one of Samsung’s most popular smartphones and has had consistently strong reviews.
Samsung New Zealand said in a statement it was ‘‘unaware of any known fault with the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge camera’’.
For all warranty repairs in New Zealand, the standard process is for customers to return their device to the place of purchase or a Samsung service centre for assessment, it said.
The South Korean firm’s smartphone business was rocked last year after batteries in its Samsung Galaxy Note 7 overheated and exploded, sparking a global recall and compensation payments which are believed to have cost billions of dollars.
Mason bought his S7 in May last year and said he had always kept it in a protective case and never dropped or misused it.
The glass shattered some time within about a 15-minute period at about 7pm, he said.
‘‘I was using it, looked at the camera, put it down and then picked it up and it was broken. I think it spontaneously happened; I don’t think putting it down on a table would have shattered the [glass] when it was in a case. It is a really strange shatter – like it has shattered from the inside out.’’
Mason said he blamed himself before ‘‘Googling’’ the breakage and finding ‘‘a lot more users experiencing the same issue’’.
Mason called Samsung and was told he could send the phone in for a repair, for which he would be charged, or contact Vodafone to see if it would repair or replace the phone under warranty.
Vodafone said the phone would need to be sent to Samsung in Auckland to be checked, he said.
‘‘If they find it as a defect under warranty there will be no charge. But if not they will have to charge us for the time.’’
Mason believed Samsung was not acknowledging the number of people reporting similar issues.
‘‘I think it is pretty poor. I really enjoy Samsung products but I definitely would be reconsidering next time I buy one,’’ he said.