Samsung will announce later this month the results of an investigation into what caused some of its Galaxy Note7 smartphones to catch fire, according to South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo.
Samsung launched the Galaxy Note7 in late August and, shortly after, user reports began circulating about devices that exploded or caught on fire while charging. At the time, the company said the underlying issue was "problematic" batteries installed in a very limited number of the smartphones sold.
Rumors suggest Samsung pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines for an earlier launch, in order to beat the iPhone 7, leading to critical oversights that led to some batteries catching fire. In October, Samsung said it was examining all aspects of the smartphone, but noted it was not yet able to reproduce the problem.
Samsung issued a Galaxy Note7 recall in September, and permanently discontinued the smartphone in October after some replacement devices caught fire. Samsung has urged customers to return their Galaxy Note7s immediately, and in December began seeding a software update to prevent unreturned devices from charging.
Samsung faces the challenging task of regaining consumer trust after the Galaxy Note7 safety risks, which led to the smartphone being banned on all U.S. flights. Airlines are required to disclose the Galaxy Note7 ban prior to takeoff on every U.S. flight, inevitably damaging the reputation of Samsung's brand.
Looking forward, the company today announced a trio of new mid-tier Galaxy A smartphones, including the 5.7-inch A7, 5.2-inch A5, and 4.7-inch A3 models. The latest A models feature metal frames and 3D glass backs, improved 16-megapixel cameras, IP68 water and dust resistance, and longer battery life.
Samsung said the refreshed Galaxy A series will be available in Russia in early January, followed by other global markets. Pricing has yet to be announced.
Top Rated Comments
Like making an external antenna which can be detuned with the smallest touch of a pinky finger. Or designing a case opening brace which was too short and thus acted like a fulcrum for bends instead. Or putting out a Maps app that was missing tons of basic info. Those all were instantly clear to almost anyone.
But since it took so long in this case, perhaps it was something subtle and/or requiring a certain sequence of events.
Heck, it only happened to about one in forty thousand units. So unless you had a good idea what the cause was, imagine how many units you'd have to test to make the result repeatable.
iPhones have done the same. They've caught fire on airplanes in flight, something that never happened with the Samsung model in question. (Because it was banned. Should iPhones also be banned then?)
People have been badly burned by iPhones. Someone has even died from an iPhone fire in his bed, which again never happened with a Samsung Note.
Does that make you never want to buy an iPhone again? Of course not. If it didn't happen to them, people don't care that much. Especially when the device hits all their desire points, like the Note does and the iPhone does.
Come on. This was a MAJOR problem, affecting a lot more than one customer with one faulty product. And then when the company claimed they fixed the problem, people were still having the same problem. Do you REALLY believe the single iPhone catching fire was the same thing as this problem with the Galaxy 7? If so, will you please explain why Apple did not recall the iPhone and why the government did not step in and force airlines to ban them?
Of course ANY electronic device has the potential to catch fire. But there's a big difference between a systemic problem with a product's design and an isolated incident. So, yes, I'll continue to buy iPhones and NOT Samsung Galaxy phones. Why? Because one is generally considered to be SAFE and one is considered to be DANGEROUS. And when I say "generally considered", I mean not only by Apple and Samsung, but by the US government, the airline industry, the news media, and the general public.