Seoul, Mar 28 (IANS): Samsung Electronics announced on Tuesday it will sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, after production was suspended last year due to battery issues that caused fires and explosions.

The South Korean company said in a statement that it was still deciding when and in which countries to sell the refurbished smartphones, which will depend on "consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand", Efe news reported.

Samsung plans to sell about three million units of the Galaxy Note 7, the statement said.

In addition to refurbishing some of the devices for sale, the company will recycle the components of others.

Samsung will salvage reusable components such as semiconductors and camera modules for the production of test models.

The firm explained that it will commission specialised companies to extract valuable metals such as copper, nickel, gold and silver from the devices.

Samsung released its high-end Galaxy Note 7 "phablet" on August 19, 2016, but a few days later began receiving reports of battery explosions and devices catching fire during the charging process.

The company recalled four million devices, including replacement smartphones that continued to catch fire, and later had to cease production in October.

Samsung's investigation concluded that the lithium ion batteries were responsible for the damage which cost the company more than $5.42 billion.