Battery Causes Note 7 To Explode Says Samsung

by Fraeraine / Jan 23, 2017 10:58 AM EST

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

As released by the world's largest smartphone maker on a press conference today, January 23, the main cause of Galaxy Note 7's fire problems are the design and manufacturing flaws in battery cells which are provided by 2 separate suppliers.

Samsung Electronics conducted an internal investigation regarding the whole Note 7 fiasco and released the results to the public today. The result shows that the design and manufacturing defects caused the first batch of Galaxy Note 7 to overheat and explode. The same thing also happened to the second batch of battery replacements.

"The first batch of batteries made by manufacturer A had their cathodes crammed to tightly into the upper right corner causing some of them to bend toward each other causing a short-circuit," President Koh Dong Jin, Samsung Electronics Mobile Communications Business, said in a press conference. Manufacturer A refers to the electronics maker's battery affiliate Samsung SDI.

To prevent short-circuit, the battery's anode (positive) and cathode (negative) must not touch.

The second batch, or the replacement batteries, were produced by China's Amperex Technology Limited (ATL). However, the same problem occurred when some welding defects allowed the cathodes and the anodes in the batteries to touch, added Koh.

Koh apologized to all the consumers for the whole Note 7 fiasco and promised to use an enhanced quality control procedure from now on to further improve the safety of their handsets.

"We deeply apologize to customers, telecom companies, distributors and all other partners for causing inconveniences and concerns," Koh said.

But even though the results of the investigation showed that the problem lies on the batteries provided by the said suppliers, the Samsung Electronics Mobile Communications Business President made it clear that they will not take legal actions against the said suppliers. This is mainly because the company is also at fault for failing to do the necessary product quality control on the batteries supplied for their handsets.