Ahead of the release of its official report into the Galaxy Note7 debacle, Samsung has found that the cause of the battery issues was down to a manufacturing error that saw a number of batteries being an irregular size.
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The world’s biggest selling smartphone maker will hold an event Monday (late Sunday in the U.S.) to reveal the results of a months-long investigation into why some Note 7 devices burst into flames while charging. Later, the blame shifted to batteries. Reports of the phone catching on fire swept across the internet, and by September 2, Samsung announced a recall. Soon after, the electronic giant implemented an exchange program to replace them. Selecting a data plan varies from consumer to consumer based on how they use their device.
This lead to a massive global recall.
The Note 7 was recalled globally on September 2nd a year ago, with this recall followed by a ban of the device on USA airlines. It caused widespread embarrassment and cost the company at least $5.3 billion.
Lee, the conglomerate’s heir and de facto head, is under investigation for alleged bribery in connection with an influence-peddling scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
The Galaxy Note 7 had batteries made by Samsung SDI and Amperex Technology Ltd.
The outside firms hired to produce the independent reviews were USA -based companies UL LLC and Exponent which examined the batteries, while a German firm, TUV Rheinland, analyzed supply-chain issues.
Samsung had also diverted hundreds of its engineers towards this task. Samsung first delayed shipments of its flagship device, after after reports that units were catching of fire spread in Korea and parts of Asia.
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First up is that some Note 7 batteries were “irregularly sized”, leading them to overheat and explode. Although, we highly recommend you to wait for the official OTA update.
