A Samsung probe into the exploding batteries that forced the electronics
giant to scrap its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones has found irregularly sized
batteries caused overheating, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
The South Korean conglomerate was forced to discontinue its flagship Note 7
after a chaotic recall that saw replacement phones also catching fire, with
the debacle costing the company billions in lost profit and reputational
damage.
Samsung is set to unveil the results of its investigation on Monday, but
sources told the WSJ that the findings indicated some of the problematic
batteries were irregularly sized, causing overheating, while others had
manufacturing problems.
Samsung announced a recall of 2.5 million units of the Galaxy Note 7
smartphone in early September after several devices exploded or caught fire.
When replacement phones also started to combust, the company eventually
decided to kill off the Note 7 for good.
The company blamed faulty batteries made by an unnamed supplier - widely
believed to be its sister company Samsung SDI.
Initially, the WSJ said, Samsung officials believed the problem was limited
to batteries made by the Samsung affiliate, and recalled those devices while
boosting production of smartphones carrying batteries made by Hong
Kong-based Amperex Technology Ltd to replace recalled devices.
The probe found that the issue with the batteries from Samsung SDI was an
irregularly sized battery which did not fit the phone properly which then
caused overheating, the WSJ said.
In the batteries made by Amperex Technology Ltd, the flaw centred on a
manufacturing issue resulting from the quick ramp-up in production of
replacement phones, the WSJ said, without specifying what the problems were.
The recall fiasco has taken a major toll on the reputation of the world's
largest smartphone maker, which has promised a "complete reform" of the
firm's overall production and quality control process to prevent another
crisis.
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