Samsung today announced the results into its investigation of what caused the Galaxy Note7 fires.
As expected, the Galaxy Note7 culprit was found to lay with the batteries – the models supplied by both Samsung SDI and Amperex.
In order to come to the conclusion, Samsung employed three independent companies to look into the problem. The company also said it has performed tests on more than 200,000 Note7 units and 30,000 batteries and managed to re-create the fires in an experimental setting.
Samsung explained no hardware, software or design fault was identified with the phone per se, but batteries were a different matter.
As we previously told you, the Galaxy Note7 units shipped with either Samsung SDI batteries (A) or Amperex ones (B).
Well the investigation concluded that both batteries had faults which led to the same outcome – the phablet overheated and caught on fire.
According to Samsung the problem with the ‘A’ batch batteries was small battery casing that was too small, which led to deformation in the upper corners of the power house plus thin internal separators. The ‘B’ batch batteries on the other hand featured a missing or misaligned insulation tape or a thin internal separator.
To prevent anything like this from every happening again, the Korean tech giant also said it has implemented new safety protocols including “multi-layer safety measures” and the “8-point battery safety check”.
The company has also created a Battery Advisory Group made up of external advisers, academic and research experts to help ensure the company “maintains a clear and objective perspective on battery safety and innovation.”
Samsung messed up the original batteries on the Note 7–and replacement batteries too. Time will tell if consumers will trust them ever again, especially those that experienced a fire or explosion.
[Samsung]