Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Friday it will halt the sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and will prepare replacement devices for phones already sold after finding problems with the battery cell used.

Samsung, in a statement, said it will take about two weeks to prepare replacement devices for the phones already sold. It was not clear when new sales of the devices would begin.

Earlier, South Korea's Yonhap News reported Samsung will issue a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone as soon as this weekend after its investigation on explosion claims found batteries were at fault.

Shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone were delayed in South Korea this week for extra quality control testing. The move came after reports that batteries in some of the jumbo smartphones exploded while they were being charged.

Samsung launched the latest version of the Note series just two weeks ago. Citing an unnamed company official, Yonhap said Samsung’s investigation found that faulty batteries caused the phone to catch fire. The number of the Galaxy Note 7 phones with a faulty battery accounts for “less than 0.1 per cent” of the products in the market and Samsung is discussing how to resolve the issue with Verizon and its other partners, the official told Yonhap.

The battery issue is a fresh blow to Samsung’s smartphone business that has been on a recovery track. Samsung reported stellar earnings that beat market expectations in the latest quarter and its stock price was at a record high before the Note 7’s battery problems dented investor sentiment.

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