Samsung Note 7 - Actual hardware design flaw, or just battery component flaw?

Hey everyone,

So with all the news surrounding the Samsung Note 7, and how they recently just killed the whole product line altogether, does anyone know what the actual problem was? Was it purely a battery defect, or was the phone inherently designed in such a way that no battery would work with it correctly? Given they cancled the whole product line, I assume the device itself is physically/thermally flawed in some way since it's way more expensive to ditch everything, than just issue fix (if indeed it's just a battery production problem).

 

idk Alex, but im bummed, this was gonna be my next phone since it had external memory expansion. guess i'll keep the note 4 for now

 

I think even if they fixed the problem, there's been too much bad PR after the original having issues and then the replacements also exploding.

 

Outside of consumer confidence issues (I assume some people would still buy anyway or at a cheaper price), It probably still wouldn't be profitable to fix. By the time you get it checked, re-certified to be compliant with international standards, each countries laws, etc, the next version of the product would be ready to launch. The small window for this 'generation' of phone has already been forfeit I think.

 

I wish I knew if it were a battery or hardware issue as well. My main concern is some guy or gal buying one second hand for what they think is a great price while unaware of the defect. Collecting hardware, even smartphones is one of my hobbies, but even I wouldn't touch a Note 7 unless someone can pinpoint the exact problem and whether it can be fixed or not.

 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...alaxy+note+7.TRS0&_nkw=galaxy+note+7&_sacat=0

BLU by the look of things no one is catching a deal on these now LOL already people putting them up as collectors items.......
i would still buy one, not everyone had this issue with their note 7s either.....

 

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Nope. Never does.

Anyone have a PlayStation 2 slim with a faulty PSU? Did that ruin Sony? No.

How about the Mac/iOS/travel adapters that Apple sold for THIRTEEN YEARS that broke and could shock you? That was in... well, this year, actually! Or the MacBook USB cables that were faulty? That was... oh yes, THE SAME MONTH! So your Mac could either shock you or not charge properly. And did that ruin Apple? Nope!

Oh yeah, there was the iPod Nano recall in 2011 where it was possible the device could overheat and cause a fire. Hmm, sounds familiar... surely that RUINED Apple, right? Oh wait.... people still bought their devices!

Let's not forget the RROD issues with the 360. Or the problems with the launch PlayStation 3. Again... they didn't really hurt sales!

And the Tesco horse meat scandal. Are they still selling beef burgers by the bucket load? You bet!

 

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I still want a Galaxy S7 come upgrade time.. It checks all the boxes I want. The Pixel comes close, but 2 things stop me from going with it.

I also really liked the Note 7 before all the explosion stuff. It was another option I was thinking about. I guess it makes my choice easier..

 

I think that if they want to keep the Galaxy brand, Samsung has to find the reason of this disfunction, even if they have stopped the production. This will help them make people forget about this incident.

But I think that they have the potential to go over this failure, as all their other hardware sectors are selling good (based on few interviews I have listen yesterday on the radio).

I hope they will continue doing smartphones. I don't own a Samsung, but it is always better to have many choices than few choices when it comes to buy any hardware.

I also hope that that others smartphone makers will not use this Samsung failure as a proof that their own hardware is better. They should not forget that many smartphone parts comes from the same companies, so they are not totally safe.

Last point, I hope that Smartphone makers can see this failure as a proof that technology is going too fast and that they need to work longer on their product before selling them.

 

Not at all. It's me saying you and millions of people are overreacting. Welcome to an adult discussion where people will have varying opinions and discuss them rationally - people are allowed to disagree with you, you know.

42 phones melted (7 having the second batch batteries). 2.5 million (maybe more) recalled. Yes, you sometimes have to do that... but it doesn't mean all 2.5 million WOULD explode. No, switching the battery batch didn't help. It's big, sure... but it's one phone out of however many Samsung have made.... more than Apple, that's for sure! Plus it's one model from one line... the Galaxy S7 has proved to be reliable. Hell, I still use my S5. No explosions here! Boycotting the brand for one product having a small percentage with faults (but sure, that they couldn't resolve) seems rather extreme... especially at that now also limits your future choice of television, blu-ray player, hi-fi, laptop, tablet, printer, camera, camcorder, hard drive, MP3 player, projector, batteries, memory, calculator, fridge, freezer, oven, washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, air conditioner, vacuum cleaner, light bulbs and, if you live in Korea, your house and place of work could have been built by them! Will you also be checking your electronic goods to ensure they don't contain Samsung displays, RAM or other components? Apple used Samsung to make their iPhone CPUs right up to the A9 found in the 6S... and still use Samsung RAM in the iPhone 7!

Personally, I'd feel worse about the beef burger I was sold being beef and horse - the dishonesty involved to which the supermarket may or may not have been privy. And yet people STILL buy from that supermarket! It's not like Samsung deliberately intended to sell exploding phones... but someone at some point in the chain thought "sod it, a bit of horse won't hurt!"

There have been massive recalls in the automotive industry that are far more alarming - 8 million defective Takata seatbelts (1986-1995), 8 million Fords with faulty ignitions that could catch fire (1988-1993, discovered 1996), 9 million Toyotas (2004-2010) with accelerator pedals that got stuck, 14 million Fords that could catch fire due to a faulty cruise control switch (1996), 21 million Fords that reversed themselves when in park that caused almost 100 deaths (1980) and 51 million Takata airbags that have NOT all been replaced despite the recall. Takata allegedly knew about the faults in 2004, didn't mention them during the first recalls that started in 2008 and actually had an unacceptably high defect rate in 2002 (it seems they were known to be faulty in the industry in the Nineties, even). The current one has been ongoing since 2013. Now... I dunno about you, but I'd ask why manufacturers continued using Takata products... or why people keep buying Fords! They do, though.

If they choose to discontinue the model and recall them all, how is that not resolving the matter? It may not be fixing the product, but it's a resolution.

By the way, it's not the biggest phone recall in your lifetime. Nokia recalled 46 million batteries in 2007. Why? Because there was a risk of them short circuiting, overheating and then exploding. There were 100 reports of overheating batteries.

For anyone interested, the cause with the Note 7 is apparently the batteries being slightly too large, thus pressure is put on them when in the phone. Samsung couldn't replicate the exploding issue, thus they can't fix it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37630605

 

Just a quick update :

https://www.instrumental.ai/blog/20...used-samsung-galaxy-note-7-battery-explosions

The problem probably comes from the design of the phone itself. Indeed, the kind of battery used in this phone need some free space around it, as the size of the battery increase and decrease during charge and discharge cycle. The Note 7 design doesn't offer the free space needed, causing a Physical constraint on the battery.

 

FYI most telco networks have blocked the imei's of note 7's

 

That shit backfired really hard. A lot of companies stopped shipping smartphones by air. Yes, in cargo planes.

But still those idiots continue to race for minimal thickness and stuff. Even if majority of phones that caught fire or exploded in someone's pocket did that because phones were too thin and got bent or cracked and battery bursted. In this case they could just reduce battery capacity by about 3-8% which can reduce size by 1-3mm. Also... stress testing? "We at Samsung Mobile don't know WTF is this".
Before that there was Sony battery case. Again - unknown poor garage company, lol. And no, i'm not talking about QC stress testing for each device like they do with expensive industrial/military/aerospace etc stuff, but a stress test on a batch of pre-release hardware. Very basic stuff like vibration/drop/overheat/overvoltage and of course - a few weeks 24/7 under 100% CPU load. It doesn't cost billions or even millions.

 

heard in Korea now Galaxy 7 and 7 Edge are exploding as well...
guess it's more likely the design flow rather than simple(?) battery issue IMHO

and here I was going to buy G7 Edge to replace missus G6 Edge

 

Everything you've listed would not explode in your pocket, except for the iPod Nano which was irrelevant by 2011.