Samsung today held a press conference to officially detail the results of its investigation into why Galaxy Note 7 phones around the world overheated and caught fire.
According to Samsung’s testing, the battery was the main cause of the Galaxy Note 7’s overheating issues. There were two different batteries used in the Note 7 phones, and each one had a problem of its own.
In the first battery, Samsung found a design flaw in the upper right corner that made the electrodes prone to bending. That led to a breakdown in the separation between the positive and negative tabs in the battery, which resulted in a short circuit.
There was no such design flaw in the second battery used, Samsung says, but there was a problem with manufacturing that caused a welding defect. This defect then caused the battery to short circuit and overheat.
Samsung’s investigation included 700 staff members testing 200,000 Note 7 phones and 30,000 additional batteries. Samsung ran many tests, investigating features like fast charging, wireless charging, and the iris scanner to see if any of them were to blame for the fires. Samsung also enlisted the help of UL, Exponent, and TUV Rheinland to help it investigate the problem.
Looking ahead, Samsung says that it has implemented internal quality and safety measures to boost product safety. That includes an 8-Point Battery Safety Check and a Battery Advisory Group that will help ensure that Samsung remains focused on battery safety.
So there you have it. It’s been widely speculated that the batteries in the Note 7 were to blame, but it’s good that Samsung came forward and explained what the issues were, complete with details on its testing and the testing of multiple outside firms. While none of this will bring the Note 7 back, it is nice to have all of the information laid out by Samsung.
Now Samsung has to work to convince consumers that its next flagship phones are safe. It’s unlikely that Samsung will ever completely shake this Note 7 fiasco, but the company will need to assure customers that the Galaxy S8 or whatever it’s cooking up won’t catch fire on their nightstand. The 8-Point Battery Safety Check is a start, but we’ll likely see more from Samsung when it launches its next big thing.