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 for the first batch.
The second batteries manufactured by a different company also had some manufacturing defects, reason why it also failed.
Samsung says it has developed a new eight-point battery check to make sure future devices don’t suffer the same fate as the Galaxy Note 7. The test includes an X-ray of the phone and extreme testing conditions that force the battery to work harder than normal.
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.
Now that Samsung knows what caused the problem with the Note 7, it has the unique challenge of proving its devices can be trusted moving forward.
The company says it now has the processes in place to make sure its phones don’t overheat and catch fire again.
