Samsung Galaxy Note 7 deliveries delayed after phones reported to spontaneously explode

The company had been counting on the new phone to keep its turnaround going, and to take on the upcoming iPhone 7

Samsung’s newest phone appears to be exploding while it charges up.

Shipments of the Note 7 in South Korea are being delayed as the company performs quality control testing to try and stop more phones blowing up as they are being charged.

Spokeswoman Sophie Kim said that media reports that shipments of the flagship phone are being stopped are untrue. Instead, the phones are being held back as the company tries to find out why the phones are blowing up.

Pictures of damaged phones are being uploaded online. The phones seem to expand as they charge, and then spontaneously catch fire.

The phone had been part of a broader turnaround for Samsung, which has in recent years seen falling demand for its smartphones. That trend has been turning around, and Samsung had been counting on the release of the Note 7 to be part of its fight against Apple, which will be releasing its own handsets next week.

The company had even skipped out the Note 6 numbering, apparently so that the new phone wouldn’t sound like it was behind Apple’s iPhone 7.

It is unusual for Samsung to confirm a delay in sales of a device.

The delay has not affected the Note 7's launch in China, an important market for Samsung. The company planned to kick off sales of the Note 7 in Chinese online markets as scheduled later on Thursday.

The Galaxy Note 7 smartphone is the latest iteration of Samsung's Note series that feature a giant screen and a stylus. The Note series smartphones are one of the most expensive lineups released by Samsung and usually inherit designs and features of the Galaxy S series that debut in the spring. Samsung also added an iris scanner to the Note 7, which lets users unlock the phone by detecting patterns in the eyes.

Samsung launched the Note 7 on Aug. 19 in some markets, including South Korea and the US.

Even before the issue of battery explosions emerged, supplies were not keeping up with higher-than-expected demand for the smartphone.

Additional reporting by Associated Press