Here’s why the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 batteries

caught fire and exploded

By Matt Swider January 23, 2017 Mobile phones  

Samsung explains why its Galaxy Note 7 phone caught fire

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 battery fires and explosions that –

quite literally –sparked two recalls and cost the smart phone
maker at least $5 billion have finally been solved, according to
Samsung.

"We are taking responsibility," said the company's mobile

President DJ Koh after a four-month-long investigation that came
to a head today, during a press conference in Seoul, South
Korea.
 The reason behind the Note 7 fires comes down to irregularly
sized batteries, which caused the overheating, as well as other
manufacturing problems in a second round of replacement
batteries that were rushed out.

Samsung sealed a sizable 3,500mAh lithium-ion battery into a

7.9mm thin smart phone, but half of the Note 7 batteries were
made by its subsidiary Samsung SDI and didn’t properly fit into
the Android phone.

The subsequent over heating caused the first round of battery

explosions and fires throughout August and September, and a
handful of the incidents were caught on video or in photos.

Short on time? Check out our video for the key points and
whether we think Samsung has done enough to win back
consumers.
 Samsung, nobody cares about your 8-point battery safety
check

Why the Note 7 battery went up in flames a second time

Samsung recalled and reissued all Galaxy Note 7 phones in
September, thinking that the other half of its phones – the ones
with batteries made by affiliate Amperex Technology – were fine.
The aftermath of an exploded Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (Photo
credit: The Verge)

However, the sudden ramp up in the second batch of Samsung

Galaxy Note 7 phones seems to have caused a number of
different manufacturing issues.

At Samsung's press conference, the company said that there

could have been a number of failures during this rushed process,
with contributing factors including missing insulation tape and
sharp edge protrusions.
Issue: The negative electrode was deflected in the upper-right
corner of the battery.
Issue: 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.

Issue: The negative electrode was deflected in the upper-right

corner of the battery.
Issue: 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.

The one-two punch of production errors caused Samsung to issue

another recall and ultimately cancel its popular, S-Pen toting
smart phone, leaving billions of dollars on the table in the process.
Samsung says that 96% of the 3 million Galaxy Note 7 phones
sold have been returned worldwide, but US carrier Verizon said
that ‘thousands’ of its customers are still holding onto the phone
on its network.
What’s next? Samsung Galaxy S8
More than money, Samsung’s reputation as the top Android
phone maker has been damaged.
The Note 7 is now banned on airplanes and, for several months,
there was a PR-devastating flight announcement about the ban
before every US plane took off. 
All of this is will hurt the Samsung brand going forward, as it plans
to launch new phones.