The world's top mobile phone maker, Nokia, issued a global statement yesterday recalling 46 million batteries used in its phones, which it said could overheat.
It is believed to be the world's largest replacement exercise for consumer electronic products, eclipsing the one last year by Japan's Sony Corp, which recalled about 10 million of its computer batteries for fear that they would burst into flames.
Nokia said the batteries, manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial company between December 2005 and November, "could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge".
Nokia said about 100 cases of overheating in the batteries in question had been reported globally, but that no serious injuries had been reported. There have been no reported cases in Hong Kong.
The batteries are of Nokia's most widely used model, BL-5C, of which more than 300 million have been produced. They will be replaced at no cost.
"We are still making final conclusions. The detailed analysis is still ongoing. But what we can say is it is not a design issue, it's a manufacturing issue," said Thomas Jonsson, director of communications at Nokia (China) in Beijing.
He said there had been cases of minor scratches or burns when a user touched the overheated battery, "but nothing that would affect the person in any way".
The statement invited customers to check whether their batteries belong to the batch in question by using their identification process online. They could apply for a replacement online or by calling Nokia's hotline. But some users yesterday complained about the inconvenient procedure.
In June, a welder in Gansu was killed when his mobile phone battery, believed to be fake, exploded.