Around 500,000 replacement Galaxy Note 7s have arrived in the US and will sent to mobile carriers and retailers as Samsung begins its full replacement program. Samsung said it would replace all 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold in light of several users reporting theirs had caught fire while charging.

Samsung has said it will replace a further 500,000 units will replaced by the end of September.

Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America said: “New devices will be in stores no later than tomorrow [Wednesday] and we will continue to take the necessary actions to ensure users are powering down and immediately exchanging recalled devices”.

So far, nearly a quarter of all Note 7 owners in the US have already replaced their device, with the majority opting for a new phone rather than a refund.

Samsung stopped selling the Note 7 on September 2nd after it found there were issues with the battery cell. Initially the company just wanted to replace phones with certain serial numbers, but this was quickly changed to a worldwide recall of all phones regardless of when they were purchased.