Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Battery Issue

Back in August of 2016, Samsung released their latest flagship mobile device, Galaxy Note 7. To no one's surprise it was filled to the brim with the latest technology, making it one of the fastest phones on the market. Unfortunately, they would have to recall Note 7 just two months later because there was a problem with the battery. It was charging just fine and the phone lasted all day, so what could possibly be wrong? Well, it had a problem with self-combusting. Yes, Note 7 was prone to explode. On people’s bedside tables while charging and even in pockets.

Image from "Samsung Finally Explains Galaxy Note 7 Exploding Battery Mess," NBC News.

Samsung recalled them not once, but twice, citing tension inside the body of the phone causing exposed electrodes to catch fire. After they “fixed” the affected phones, they were still exploding. Finally, in October, Samsung made a final recall, taking Note 7 off the shelves for good. They discovered that the issue was that there wasn’t enough space inside the phone for the battery to swell during the charging process. Similarly, during normal use, if the phone was sat on or awkwardly handled in just the right way, components in the body could pierce the battery, causing it to explode.

I would say that Samsung should be inspecting their phones for issues like these, as people keep phones in their back pockets and sit on them on accident frequently, but I don’t need to. Since the final recall, Samsung has implemented a rigorous 8-step battery inspection process for all of their devices.

To future mechanical engineers, its always worth it to check your work, make sure your designs are ready for the production phase.

Works Cited:

Newcomb, Alyssa. "Samsung Finally Explains Galaxy Note 7 Exploding Battery Mess." NBC News, 23 Jan. 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/samsung-finally-explains-galaxy-note-7-exploding-battery-mess-n710581

Shedletsky, Anna-Katrina. "Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Teardown: How Aggressive Design Caused Battery Explosions." Instrumental, Instrumental, https://instrumental.com/resources/automate-failure-analysis/aggressive-design-caused-samsung-galaxy-note-7-battery-explosions/