“After four months of testing on over 200,000 phones, what did Samsung Electronics Co. determine caused its flagship Note 7 to catch fire? Bad batteries,” Geoffrey A. Fowler and Joanna Stern report for The Wall Street Journal. “Two separate sets of bad batteries made by two different companies, in fact. That’s like a meteor striking your house — twice.”
“Battery A had a design issue. The CliffsNotes version: There wasn’t enough room inside the battery for routine expansion of its component electrodes,” Fowler and Stern report. “Battery B had a welding issue caused by a manufacturing defect, which didn’t appear until production ramped up after Battery A was pulled from the market. The resulting microscopic burrs poked through barriers inside the battery.”
“Samsung is on an apology tour for the gobsmacking screwup that led to two successive recalls of the Note 7. In interviews with us, Samsung’s mobile chief, DJ Koh, and other executives shared stacks of testing photos, results of its investigation and its plans to improve quality control,” Fowler and Stern report. “At this point, we grade those efforts a C. Samsung was clearly serious about investigating the issue with the help of independent experts, but its explanation sometimes left us scratching our heads. While it has developed a new 8-point battery check for future phones, we don’t have a clear sense of whether these tests will raise the bar on safety, or simply catch Samsung up to other premium smartphone makers.”
“Many electronics, like hair dryers and laptops, are certified to international safety standards by third parties like UL. Phones used to be considered less risky because they had low voltage, but that’s no longer the case. Individual components, like charging plugs, may be certified, but whole smartphones aren’t,” Fowler and Stern write. “We’d like a smartphone certification seal that allows all of us to know the phone is safe… Samsung told us it will advertise its new safety plan and will contribute to a standardization body, but its executives were noncommittal when we asked about getting third parties involved in certifying the safety of its phones.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anyone who buys Samsung-branded products is a fool.
Samsung are not only thieves, they’re liars, too.
SEE ALSO:
Beleaguered Samsung claims Galaxy S7 phones are safe; do you believe them? – November 21, 2016
New report of different Samsung phone model exploding in France – November 7, 2016
Beleaguered Samsung recalls 2.8 million washing machines due to risk of explosion – November 4, 2016
IDC survey: 50% of beleaguered Samsung’s exploding phone users upgrading to Apple iPhone – October 28, 2016
Now beleaguered Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge is reportedly catching fire – October 25, 2016
Samsung refusing to pay for property damage caused by its exploding phones – October 22, 2016
Beleaguered Samsung’s exploding phone troubles come at an already crucial moment – October 18, 2016
Horror stories from the flight ban of Samsung’s exploding phones – October 17, 2016
Analyst estimates 5-7 million ex-Samsung phone users to switch to Apple iPhone – October 17, 2016
U.S. air passengers who try to take Samsung’s exploding phones onto planes face fines, confiscation, criminal prosecution – October 15, 201
Samsung has no clue why their phones explode, yet they shipped replacements anyway, assuring their customers they were safe – October 14, 2016
United States bans all Samsung Note 7 phones on airline flights – October 14, 2016
Beleaguered Samsung’s cellphone dilemma – October 13, 2016
Exploding Galaxy phones: What did Samsung know and when did they know it? – October 12, 2016
Apple or Android phone makers: Who wins more on Samsung’s Galaxy collapse? – October 12, 2016
People are dumping Samsung’s unsafe, exploding phones and upgrading to Apple’s iPhone – October 12, 2016
Social media users mock beleaguered Samsung’s explosive phones – October 11, 2016
Replacement Galaxy Note 7, deemed ‘safe’ by Samsung, catches fire in Scottish hotel room – October 11, 2016
Samsung axes explosive Galaxy Note 7, shares plummet – October 11, 2016
Drexel Hamilton projects 8 million iPhone unit gain for Apple this year alone due to Samsung’s exploding phones debacle – October 11, 2016
Samsung takes multi-billion-dollar hit to end exploding phones fiasco – October 11, 2016
Beleaguered Samsung permanently ceases Galaxy Note 7 production – October 11, 2016
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Scott M.” for the heads up.]
Very careful wording…”Samsung branded products”. Smart.
I wonder if Apple uses either of these battery manufacturers. Was it just bad luck that the problems hit Samsung and not Apple.
Samsung blamed batteries for being too big versus their case being too small. LOL. They approved the batteries the used.
Me smells a skunk. LOL
Wasn’t “Battery A” made by Samsung?
MIght be mistaken, but I thought I heard 5 years ago that Apple bought a battery supplier and makes its own batteries.
That would be a prudent move especially as we now see if a cell phone will fail explosively the battery design will usually have everything to do with it.
Who are going to be the Guinea pig customers for Samsung’s next Galaxy phones? Maybe this is why they are delaying the launch of the S8. They need more time for the public to forget the explosions.
No, not to forget!
Samsung has OBVIOUSLY been deficient in both engineering, manufacturing and quality control issues for a Long Long Time.
Given the problems they have had in home appliances (killer washing machines) and cell phones, there are fundamental issues to be solved throughout Samsung’s consumer products.
My guess is the Board of Directors of Samsung are having a fit over their CEO’s involvement in bribes AND the consumer product problems and it is likely a lot of heads have rolled at this point.
Yeah but is it the right heads rolling and not innocent scape goats, leaving the real perps protected and still in their jobs.