Samsung confirms Note 7 batteries to blame, implements new safety checks

Samsung has published its official findings of why many of its Note 7 smartphones caught fire or exploded last year and it’s as most already thought, the batteries were to blame.

The findings were backed up by independent organisations, specifically UL, Exponent and TUV Rheinland. The three, third-party expert investigators came up with the same conclusion; batteries in the Note 7 devices were found to be at cause for the over-heating issues resulting in catastrophic failures in some cases.

Samsung tested more than 200,000 fully assembled devices and more than 30,000 batteries as part of its thorough research.

The findings have also prompted the company to invest heavily in new battery testing procedures, including an eight-point battery safety check for every unit used in a device.

“Our investigation, as well as the investigations completed by three independent industry organisations, concluded that the batteries were found to be the cause of the Note7 incidents,” said Samsung’s president of mobile communications.

“Nonetheless, we provided the target for the battery specifications for the innovative Note7, and we are taking responsibility for our failure to ultimately identify and verify the issues arising out of battery design and manufacturing process prior to the launch of the Note7.

“We have taken several corrective actions to ensure this never happens again, including the implementation of a multi-layer safety measures protocol at the product planning stage, and an eight-Point Battery Safety Check.

“We look forward to moving ahead with a renewed commitment to safety. The lessons of the past several months are now deeply reflected in our processes and in our culture.”

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The eight-point safety check consists of a durability test, visual inspection, x-ray, charfe and discharge test, a TVOC test, a disassembling test, accelerated usage test and what is called a Delta Open Circuit Voltage test.

Samsung