Handle with care! They've been in people's pockets for months but now Samsung sends customers FIRE RESISTANT 'recovery boxes' and protective gloves to return their dangerous Galaxy Note 7 handsets

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Samsung has begun sending out special fire resistant boxes for customers to return their Galaxy Note 7 handsets - just hours after the company announced it was stopping production of the faulty device and was offering everyone their money back.

The kits, which started arriving with users in the U.S. on Tuesday, contain a series of boxes and protective bags, including one with a special fire resistant coating, and protective gloves. 

They also contain a special warning that the handset can only be shipped by ground due to fears it could explode in the air. 

It comes after one handset began smoking and prompted the evacuation of a Southwestern flight earlier this week - even though it was powered down.

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The kits contain a series of boxes, and protective bags, including one with a special fire resistant coating. The inner box has a ceramic fiber lining, and Samsung says gloves must be used around it.

'A device containing a lithium ion battery subject to a recall must be shipped in accordance with government regulations, and these special boxes are required by government regulations,' the South Korean phonemaker said in a statement on Wednesday.

The first kits began to arrive as the Royal Mail in the UK refused to handle the returns.

In the US, consumers are warned to only send the package via ground mail.

'The Postal Service will only ship Samsung Note 7 devices via USPS Retail Ground/Parcel Select due to potential safety hazards pertaining to lithium ion batteries,' a spokesperson told Dailymail.com.

'Mailers must package the smartphone in rigid packaging, such as cardboard or hard plastic boxes. 

'Soft packs and padded envelopes are not acceptable.'   

The inner box has a ceramic fiber lining that is about a quarter-inch thick, which covers the entire interior.

To protect users from these fibers, Samsung provides the blue gloves so that users who are sensitive to such things would not suffer some type of reaction.

'Supplied safety gloves  should be worn throughout as  'some individuals might be sensitive to the ceramic fiber paper lining the Recovery Box' the instructions read.

Tech site xdadevelopers was one of the first to receive the kit, and posted a 'reboxing' video.   

'We received this package from Samsung at XDA HQ to use to return our Note 7. 

It contains gloves, a thermal-insulated box, and detailed instructions,' the site said. 

The box contains protective gloves, and a special warning specifying that the handset can only be shipping by ground due to fears it could explode

Samsung's full instructions for its return kit which sets out in detail how to return the Note 7

The South Korean tech giants said on Tuesday it made the final decision to stop production for the sake of consumer safety after a huge number of the phones overheated and spontaneously burst into flames.

Shares in the company fell by nearly 8 percent in the aftermath of the announcement, wiping around $17billion off its value. 

Experts have estimated the decision could cost the firm $19billion. 

They said the axing of the device could cost nearly $17bn in lost sales and Samsung could have to shell out an estimated $2.2billion if every 2.5 million handset produced is refunded at an average cost of $850.

'Taking our customers' safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7,' the company said. 

A spokesperson for Samsung confirmed to MailOnline that the smartphone has been 'permanently discontinued'. 

Samsung was struggling to regain consumer trust after a first round of recalls. 

The company stopped selling the device after finding that even the supposedly safer replacements it was providing for recalled Note 7 phones were catching fire. 

The firm says customers with original Note 7 devices or replacements they obtained after the recall should turn off the power and seek a refund or exchange them for different phones.

The axing of the Note 7 will translate into lost sales of up to 19 million phones, or nearly $17 billion (£14 billion), according to analysts at Credit Suisse. 

On top of this cost, Samsung could have to shell out an estimated $2.2billion if every 2.5 million handsets produced are refunded at an average cost of $850.

It is unclear whether any customers could pursue damages cases against the company.  

After the initial recall it was expected Samsung would lose $5 billion (£4 billion) in expected sales and recall costs based on the assumption that the firm would resume global Note 7 sales.

Samsung Electronics shares fell 8 per cent in Seoul Tuesday, wiping out about $17 billion of market value, before the KRX stock exchange closed at 3pm KST.

When the axing of the Note 7 was announced later in the day, the stock dropped further in London as much as 9.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, Apple's stock rose 1.9 per cent premarket ahead of NASDAQ opening.

The announcement follows several new incidents of overheating last week.

South Korean media reported Monday that Samsung's factories stopped making the fire-prone phones but Samsung insisted it was making production adjustments to improve inspections and quality control. 

Leading mobile network operators had already said they would stop distributing new Note 7 phones as replacements for the earlier recall.

The scale of the problem was first revealed when Samsung announced on September 2 a global recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in 10 markets, including the United States, due to faulty batteries causing some of the phones to catch fire. In the U.S. the handset costs $834-$880.

The smartphone was due to relaunch in the UK, costing £740 ($907), at the end of October after sales were delayed amid concerns that the mobiles were at risk of overheating or catching fire.

The company said 45,000 Note 7s had been sold in Europe through the pre-order campaign - the majority in the UK - and more than 75 per cent had since been replaced with either a Note 7 or another Samsung handset. 

China's quality watchdog said on Tuesday Samsung's local unit will recall all 190,984 Galaxy Note 7 phones that it has sold in the mainland. 

The first report of a Note 7 explosion surfaced on August 24 in South Korea and since then there have been more than 100 reports of battery failures or fires in the U.S. alone. 

U.S. consumer safety officials said they're investigating five incidents of fire or overheating since the company announced a recall last month.

Some analysts have claimed Samsung has 'dragged its heels' over its announcement to halt sales and production.

Last week, authorities had to evacuate a Southwest Airlines flight when a replacement phone began emitting smoke.

Many airlines across the world are now either refusing to allow passengers on the plane with the devices or they are demanding that they are turned off before boarding. 

Meanwhile, Kentucky man Michael Klering told local media he was 'scared to death' when he woke up to find his bedroom full of smoke due to his replacement phone catching fire.

Customers whose devices spontaneously set on fire have shared their pictures since the first incidents were reported in August 

'The whole room just covered in smoke, smells awful. I look over and my phone is on fire,' Mr Klering said.

He claimed he had only had his replacement handset for a little more than a week before it caught fire.

'The phone is supposed to be the replacement, so you would have thought it would be safe. It wasn't plugged in. It wasn't anything, it was just sitting there,' Mr Klering said.

'We are working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7,' Samsung said.

'Because consumers' safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place.

'We remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation.

'Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available.' 

Earlier on Monday the firm said it had temporarily halted production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.

An unnamed official at a Samsung supplier on Monday reported that the tech giant took the unprecedented measure for consumer safety. 

A Galaxy Note 7 burning at a Burger King in South Korea was caught on video by someone eating at the fast food restaurant

A Southwest Airlines plane was evacuated on Wednesday after smoke coming from an overheated Samsung device filled the cabin. A view of the plane is shown above

A picture taken by the customer inside the plane shows the phone's burned screen  

Last month, a Jeep burst into flames in Florida after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 set alight when it was put on charge

AT&T Inc, the second largest U.S. mobile network, said on Sunday that it will stop exchanging new Note 7 smartphones due to reports of fires from replacement devices that Samsung has said used safe batteries.

T-Mobile US Inc said it was also temporarily halting sales of new Note 7s as well as exchanges while Samsung investigated 'multiple reports of issues' with its flagship device.

T-Mobile offered customers who brought in their Note 7s a $25 credit on their phone bill. 

Getting a refund on the phone has proved tricky for some in the UK, such as early pre-order customer Michael Rock from Wakefield.

The father-of-two got his Note 7 at the end of August but, when the global recall began in September, postal service Royal Mail reportedly refused to let him post it back to Samsung. 

'Royal Mail won't let me send the Note 7. What do I do!! Samsung won't refund until they get it back,' he wrote on Twitter. 

Samsung earlier said it was investigating reports of 'heat damage issues' and would share its findings when the investigation is complete.

'If we determine a product safety issue exists, Samsung will take immediate steps approved by the CPSC (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to resolve the situation,' Samsung told said in a statement.  

Girl, 13, suffers burns to her thumb after replacement Samsung device melts in her hand

A Minnesota father says his daughter suffered a minor burn to her thumb when her replacement Samsung smartphone melted in her hand last week.

Andrew Zuis of Farmington, Minn., said his daughter, Abby, 13, was holding the Galaxy Note 7 in her left hand Friday when it melted. Zuis saidthat the family had acquired the new phone on the day the replacement phones were released. There had been no problem with the original phone, he said.

'It's very fortunate Abby was not injured and was holding the phone,' Zuis said. 'If it was in her pocket, I think it would have been a whole different situation. I'm just very disappointed in Samsung and their product.'

Andrew Zuis, of Farmington, Minn., shows the replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone belonging to his 13-year-old daughter Abby, that melted in her hand on Friday

'She's done with Note 7s right now,' Zuis said of his daughter. Reports of more replacement phones catching fire are trickling in

Zuis provided KSTP-TV with receipts showing that the family bought a Galaxy Note 7 in August and then exchanged it Sept. 21 after Samsung announced the recall.

'She's done with Note 7s right now,' Zuis said of his daughter.

A Samsung representative told KSTP that an investigation is underway.

'We want to reassure our customers that we take every report seriously and we are engaged with the Zuis family to ensure we are doing everything we can for them and their daughter,' the representative said in a statement. 

Why were the lithium batteries exploding?   

Lithium batteries are use in a range of consumer electronic devices, favored by manufacturers because they are lightweight and pack much more energy into a small space than other power cells.

But storing so much energy in a tiny space, with combustible components separated by ultra-thin walls, makes them susceptible to overheating if exposed to high temperatures, damage or flaws in manufacturing. 

If the separators fail, a chemical reaction can quickly escalate out of control. 

Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile president, told reporters in Seoul: 'The flaw in the manufacturing process resulted in the negative electrodes and the positive electrodes coming together.'

It is unclear how Samsung failed to discover the battery problem before launching the Note 7.  

'It's a fire sale… buy one get 2.5 million free!': Social media users mock Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in hilarious memes after company axes the 'explosive' product 

News that Samsung has axed its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone due to safety concerns has sparked a wave of hilarious memes on social media.

The troubled smartphone has, for many people, become synonymous with setting fire after exploding handsets were reported around the world including in China, South Korea and the U.S.

The decision to permanently discontinue the product, which was meant to be Samsung's rival to Apple's iPhone, is forecast to cost the company $17 billion in lost sales.

Twitter user Stilgherrian posted a photo of a young girl in front of a house burning down with the caption: 'Samsung shareholders meeting.'