Analysts believe Samsung SDI supplied most of the faulty batteries while Note 7 phones in China use batteries made by Amperex, which reportedly also is a main supplier of batteries for Apple’s iPhone.
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Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics announced a massive recall of its latest Galaxy Note 7 phablet, following its launch in 10 nations on August 17, after dozens of consumers reported battery fires.
Samsung’s desire to get its new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone to the market ahead of the iPhone 7, and with a larger feature set, has been blamed for the device’s safety failures.
Samsung said it expects to resume normal sales of new Galaxy Note 7 devices in South Korea starting September 28 after completing the replacements of approximately 400,000 units by the end of this month.
Samsung said it would supply the remaining 300,000 new Note 7s by the end of this month. The launch has been beleaguered by battery problems that have seen multiple devices catching fire.
“According to the burn marks on the sample, we surmise that the source of the heating comes from outside the battery, and it’s very likely that there was an external factor causing the heating problem”, the battery maker said in a statement.
Late on Sunday, Chinese online financial magazine Caixin cited an internet user’s report that their Note 7 phone, bought from JD.com Inc, had caught fire in what appeared to be the first report in China of a fire involving the handset. The company said the phones sold through the official launch used batteries different from those in reported fires. After a few days, the company requested them to immediately turn off the phones. And last week, Samsung said it is rolling out a software update to the Note 7 phones that will limit the battery charge to 60 percent but didn’t say whether all phones would automatically receive it.
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About 400,000 Note 7 smartphones are estimated to have been sold in South Korea so far. Monday is the deadline.
