Samsung Galaxy Note 7, in its release days, was seen as a big launch to hit the smartphone market against its rival Apple iPhone 7. However, the trail of incidents reporting overheating issues and the handsets catching fire, made Samsung to recall over 96 per cent of the sold units, and finally scrap the smartphone altogether.
In the course of incidents the Note 7 was carrying the tag of being a ‘vulnerable device’ which can explode when subjected to charge. Under the emergency order, regulators banned the smartphone from aircraft. The smartphone became the butt of jokes online, giving a huge blow to Note brand’s reputation.
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On Monday, Samsung disclosed the results of months-long investigation that blamed faulty design in the phone’s battery— Battery A and Battery B.
In the investigation, Battery A referred to the battery tested from the first recall of Galaxy Note 7s. “In the first instance, there was an electrode deflection and incorrect positioning of the negative electrode tip in the upper-right corner of the battery, an abnormality in the design," Samsung revealed. In a normal battery the negative electrode is not deflected, but are separated by enough space to prevent making contact with the positive electrode.
After its first recall, Samsung replaced the recalled units with different battery—Battery B, provided by another battery supplier. Samsung said, “In other occurrence, an abnormal high welding burrs on the positive electrode resulted in the penetration of the insulation tape and separator which then caused direct contact between the positive tab with the negative electrode.” In normal case, the positive tab is approximately attached to the positive electrode. Additional contribution factor was a number of batteries were missing insulation tape.
However, another hardware firm Instrumental revealed that the battery flaw may itself not the only reason, but other factors may have favoured the explosions. In its investigation, found the Note 7 explosion occurred due to an ‘aggressive’ phone design. According to the firm, the phone design compressed the Note 7 battery, even during normal operations.
‘Looking at the design, Samsung engineers were clearly trying to balance the risk of a super-aggressive manufacturing process to maximise capacity, while attempting to protect it internally,’ Instrumental said on its blog.
Following what Samsung discovered during their investigation, the company pledged to enhance product safety and developed an 8-Point Battery Safety Check to avoid Note 7-like incidents.
Despite the death of Galaxy Note 7, Samsung smartphones under the Note brand will continue to launch. Samsung is not yet ready to give upon the Note brand.
“I will bring back a better, safer and very innovative Note 8.” Samsung’s mobile chief. D.J. Koh said in an interview to CNET on Monday. “We found through the investigative process, we knew there are lots and lots of loyal Note customers,” he added.
In a separate statement to Business Korea, Samsung confirmed to stick to its Galaxy Note series. An official from the electronic industry said, “The Galaxy Note 7 was very popular before user reports began circulating about devices that exploded or caught on fire while charging. As the phablet market, which was developed by Samsung Electronics, has been growing, the company will release the Note series this year again.”
Samsung has already announced to not unveil the Galaxy S8 smartphone at the Mobile World Conference (MWC) in Barcelona. However, the firm is rumoured to hold a public event in New York this year where it could launch the S8 model. Also, after the release of the S8 smartphone, Samsung is reported to bring the Galaxy Note 8 in the second-half of the year.
