A Samsung Australia spokeswoman said the tech giant had "paused" sales of the Galaxy Note 7 on Friday while the company conducted a "thorough inspection" of the unit.

"We will share the findings [of the inspection] as soon as possible," she said, adding that there had been no reports of issues or injuries relating in the Note 7 in Australia.

Reports emerged this week of the phones "exploding" or catching fire while charging, with photos of burnt phones being shared widely online.

The tech giant said on Friday it will halt the sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and will prepare replacement devices for phones already sold after finding problems with the battery cell used.

Samsung said it will take about two weeks to prepare replacement devices for the phones already sold. It was not clear when new sales of the devices would begin.

Meanwhile, Australian telco providers Telstra, Optus and Vodafone removed Note 7s from sale on Friday. Electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi also pulled the phone from its shelves.

Telstra said it was "talking to Samsung to understand more about the reports and as a precaution we have paused Galaxy Note 7 sales."

"We will contact existing owners directly if we learn there is an issue affecting their phones," a Telstra spokesman said.

Optus said it had "made a decision to temporarily pause sales of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 pending the completion of an investigation by Samsung".

Tom Godfrey from consumer group Choice said that if Samsung did recall the Note 7, the telcos and retailers who sold them would be legally obliged to repair or replace the devices, or give customers a refund.

"If you have purchased a phone outright and it turns out to be dangerous, you get to decide whether to repair, replace or refund it, so the power in this situation is in the hands of the consumer," Mr Godfrey said.

Customers who purchased the phone from a telco as part of a contract could try to cancel the contract if the phones are recalled, he said.

Australia became one of the first places in the world where the Note 7 became available when it was launch here on August 19.

The phone is also available in Canada and its native South Korea, but it has not yet shipped to the United States.

Samsung's expected recall would come at a critical time for the electronics giant, just a week before rival Apple is set to introduce new iPhone models at its annual September event.

The Korean company had gambled that positive reviews for the new device, which features iris-reading technology, would lead to robust sales.

Analysts, who were growing increasingly bullish over Samsung's smartphone sales amid slowing demand for iPhones, have been raising their price targets for the company after it reported second-quarter profits above projections in July.