Samsung's final conclusion: "It was the batteries, stupid..."

[Deleted member 245375]

Ok, so not in those particular words but, honestly I don't think it necessarily WAS the battery but instead the fact that they designed the battery space to such tight tolerances and then chose a form factor for the battery which really didn't give them any wiggle room at all. Since Li-Ion and even Li-Po batteries do tend to expand slightly when they're warm (under use or charging) they require some wiggle room, even if it's on the order of like a half millimeter on each side or something close to that, to allow for the expansion due to temps. Of course, Samsung will flat out place the blame on the batteries almost exclusively and it's not exactly correct considering the situation and the mounting aspects.

Anyway, this is the short video they just put out with their explanation which was already diagnosed way back in early September by one of the tech websites that even had X-rays done of the original batteries and then the second batch too which clearly showed the plates were bending and making contact because of how tightly packed they were in that little compartment area the Note7 has:



They also had the live stream of the event disclosing their results which can be seen here (recorded of course) - skip to 29 minutes 13 seconds to catch the very beginning and bypass almost the half hour of nothing at all:



Still seems like a shame considering that now the cause and effect is known (and has been for some time) and all those Note7 devices will just get up and destroyed. I'd say refit them with proper (and smaller) batteries which fit well and have plenty of wiggle room then re-sell them or return them to the original owners that sent them in but that's just me.

Talk about a complete waste of technology, good lord. I never owned one but at this point considering all the restrictions placed on the Note7 and the fact that sooner or later some update will sneak through and cripple it is just sad to me overall.

"The Note7 is dead... long live the Note7..."

 

[Brian_B]

Still seems like a shame considering that now the cause and effect is known (and has been for some time) and all those Note7 devices will just get up and destroyed. I'd say refit them with proper (and smaller) batteries which fit well and have plenty of wiggle room then re-sell them or return them to the original owners that sent them in but that's just me.

But then they can't sell Note8's, which will be...remarkably similar to the Note7, but with a slightly smaller battery with plenty of wiggle room. Oh, and a different color case.

Or they will cover the entire thing in flame retardant, and totally go overboard with a knee jerk. "Not only will ~this~ phone not catch on fire, it can actually put out other fires"

 

[Canon]

The whole thing is rather unfortunate. It was some of the nicest hardware out there IMHO. I liked the hardware a lot better than my Google Pixel XL.

Performance and responsiveness is where the Note 7 failed though (other than the battery issues).

Makes me somewhat OK with the experience because otherwise I wouldn't have had the opertunity to get a Pixel XL but the whole experience didnt cost me any money, only time and inconvenience. Ultimately I think they made the right decision to recall and pull the product. Way too much confusion and fear if they didn't IMHO.

 

[CHANG3D]

It seems like every major upcoming flagship this year is going edge to edge display with very little top and bottom bezel. So all phone will look even more similar now.

 

[Aurelius]

The Note 7 might have stood a chance if Samsung hadn't been so determined to get the Note 7 back on the market as quickly as possible. It might've been back on shelves by the end of 2016 if they'd started a thorough investigation right away and nipped reputation problems in the bud. Instead, the company embarrassed itself and couldn't present findings until late January. Wouldn't be much point to re-releasing the Note 7 in, say, February... those people unfazed by the battery problems might be better off waiting for the S8 as it is.

 

[NamelessPFG]

That's what they get for taking away the removable battery option!

Oh well, lessons learned for everyone, I guess. Samsung's flagship launches this year are hinging on not repeating these mistakes.

I guess I'll just have to hope for the Note 8 to not suck, but given Samsung's direction ever since the S6 and Note 5 alongside the current S8 rumors, I'm not looking forward to their continued insistence on curved edge screens, especially on Note-series devices where it really doesn't belong. (Do you see drawing tablets with curved edges on the active area? There's a good reason they don't do that!)

Oh well, I'll just have to wait out most of the year with my trusty Note 4 still in tow, even though finally talking the family into dumping Sprint for T-Mobile means I no longer have the ideal bands for the new network. Can't be arsed to swap my N910P for an N910T, though, and going to a Note 5 or S7 would be a downgrade. (And before you ask how the hell I domestically unlocked a Sprint phone like that, there's one particular unlock service that specializes in Sprint variants of Samsung flagships and a few other models.)

 

[bakmie02]

Carrying a Samsung seems like you are carrying a time-bomb with you

 

[MahoganySoapbox]

People forget that iPhone 6S are having battery recalls for just up and dieing and people were using crappy USB-C cables and burning up the Nexus Phones when they launched. I would buy another Samsung knowing they are going to be insanely careful after this.

 

[CHANG3D]

People forget that iPhone 6S are having battery recalls for just up and dieing and people were using crappy USB-C cables and burning up the Nexus Phones when they launched. I would buy another Samsung knowing they are going to be insanely careful after this.

Err... I don't remember that happening anywhere near the scale that Note 7 did. That's like suggesting simply because people had upset stomachs eating Del Taco, it's got massive salmonella issues like Chipotle. It makes no sense.

And the usb-c cables also weren't the fault of whomever manufactured the phones... Also no where near the scale of the Note 7. That's like suggesting that the people who built the houses are responsible for poisoning the water supply of Flint MI. It makes no sense.

 

[MahoganySoapbox]

Err... I don't remember that happening anywhere near the scale that Note 7 did. That's like suggesting simply because people had upset stomachs eating Del Taco, it's got massive salmonella issues like Chipotle. It makes no sense.

And the usb-c cables also weren't the fault of whomever manufactured the phones... Also no where near the scale of the Note 7. That's like suggesting that the people who built the houses are responsible for poisoning the water supply of Flint MI. It makes no sense.

I'm just going to put some numbers out there from a country which is, at this time, publishing recall figures for both Samsung Note 7 and iPhone 6S. I am having difficulty locating iPhone 6S recall numbers for North America.

The UAE has seen recalls for roughly 19,000 Samsung Note 7 units, and 88,700 iPhone 6S units. While both recalls are due to a differing severity of issues my statement of my original post was that battery recalls are common for all people in all parts of the world, at this time, for a variety of reasons.

Regarding your second statement, I agree that the USB-C cables are failing due to out-of-spec units being sold by unauthorized vendors and this is not the fault of the device manufacturer. However, it is also inappropriate to blame the consumers for something that was previously not an issue of great concern prior to the higher wattage loads sustained by USB-C cables in the mobile device market. Consumers with devices using USB Micro-B and Mini-B were, for the most part, tolerant of out-of-spec cables due to the lower current draw. Many people know of friends and family using a cable they found laying around or picked up at a store for less than $5 usd. Isn't it fair to assume that consumers conditioned to believe that any ol' cable would work with their Micro-B devices and who upgrade to a USB-C equipped device may use an out-of-spec cable and then feel that the device manufacturer is to blame for the ensuing failure?