Samsung Electronics on Tuesday said it would officially discontinue the sale and the production of Galaxy Note 7, hours after it halted all sales and replacements of the smartphones amid successive reports of overheating.

In a regulatory filing posted on 6 p.m., the tech giant said it has made a final decision to put the sales as well as the production of the smartphone to an end to ensure consumer safety.

From Friday until the end of the year, owners of Galaxy Note 7 in South Korea can exchange the device with other products or receive a cash refund from the store they purchased the smartphone. The company has asked mobile carriers to give a cash refund or to replace the phone with a product from other companies upon their wishes.

Earlier in the day, Samsung said it would suspend the sales upon the recommendation of the state-run Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, 10 days after Samsung resumed sales of the new Note 7 after an unprecedented recall.

Samsung is expected to suffer a significant blow from ditching its flagship phablet. Analysts offered bleak prospects for the firm’s third-quarter earnings, stressing that the recent events could leave a big impact, such as damage to the Galaxy’s brand value.

Samsung’s shares dropped 8 percent to 1,545,000 won ($1,380) in light of the Note 7 sales suspension plan.

“Because consumers’ safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carriers and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place,” the company said in the morning.

“We remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation,” it added.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is currently investigating five Note 7 incidents reported since Sept. 15, some of which reportedly involved replaced devices.

KATS said in a statement Tuesday it had found potential defects in the new Note 7 at a joint meeting with Samsung a day before. They agency and Samsung agreed to halt sales of the smartphones and advised customers to stop using the product, it added.

The cause of the reported fires involving the Note 7s remains unknown.

A majority of technical experts attending the Monday meeting suggested that the incidents of overheating may be caused from battery problems, according to local reports.

Local mobile carriers also decided to suspend sales of the phablets. Samsung China said Tuesday afternoon that it has submitted a recall plan to the Chinese government to suspend the sale of the smartphone and to retrieve a total of 190,984 handsets it sold to the market.

Samsung’s decision came a day after key carriers in the US, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc., as well as Telstra Corp. in Australia voluntarily suspended sales and exchanges of the smartphones.

The US safety commission supported the decision saying it was the “right move.”

“No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property. Due to the ongoing safety concerns associated with Galaxy Note 7 phones, it is the right move for Samsung to suspend the sale and exchange of all Galaxy Note 7s,” said Elliot Kaye, chairman of the organization in a statement.

Similar cases of smartphones catching fire have been reported around the world for years. But Samsung is the first tech company to recall smartphones after multiple cases were reported in a short span of time.

After its worldwide debut in New York on Aug. 19, the first case of a Galaxy Note 7 fire was reported in Korea on Aug. 24.

On Sept. 2, Samsung confirmed battery defects and said it would recall 2.5 million handsets sold worldwide, speculating the batteries -- produced by its own battery-maker Samsung SDI -- were the cause of the problem.

Less than three weeks later, Samsung released the Note 7 devices with new batteries in Korea and the US, but new reports were filed of the replaced handsets catching fire.

Last week, a replaced Note 7 caught fire abroad a Southwest Airlines flight before taking off. Following the incident, major US carriers voluntarily suspended Note 7 sales Sunday.

Samsung’s Galaxy series is marketed for the $700-plus smartphone segment and designed to compete with Apple’s iPhones.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)