Samsung cites issues with the battery as the reason why the Galaxy Note7 explodes. But a new third-party report gives us another plausible explanation to why this smartphone’s battery exploded: the battery was too big for the enclosure inside.
Engineering consulting firm Instrumental discovered during a teardown of the device there was little space between the battery and the rest of the components. It didn’t leave enough room for the battery to safely swell during normal use. And so the slightest pressure, such as sitting on the phone while in a back pocket, could cause a “chemical nightmare” that makes the devices explode.
Instrumental suggested that this could’ve been avoided if Samsung used a smaller battery. But perhaps the pressure to compete with Apple and the “need” to release a competitor for the new iPhones had Samsung going with a bigger battery that wasn’t tested as well.
But now with the costly effort needed to repair its reputation, this incident should give Samsung and other brands a chance to think whether “pushing the boundaries” is the only thing to consider when releasing a new and “better” device.
