Exploding Samsung Phone 'Too Thin' For Safety: Report

An independent report suggests the spate of Galaxy Note 7 phone explosions was caused by the design of the phone itself. Engineering analysts "Instrumental" say Samsung blundered in its attempts to make the phone as slim as possible.

After initial reports of the phones catching fire this year, Samsung appeared to believe a particular batch of faulty batteries was to blame and proceeded to recall the affected handsets. When phones that had been replaced in this way continued to explode, Samsung took the costly and embarrassing step of abandoning the handset entirely.

While Samsung is reportedly planning to release the results of its own investigation by the end of the year, Instrumental took apart a Note 7 to see if it could identify the specific problem - albeit in a safe lab situation and with a fire extinguisher on hand.

Battery Under Undue Pressure

Its staff concluded the phone was the victim of two separate issues combining with explosive consequences. The first was that the design of the phone was simply too thin, meaning the outer components put pressure on the battery.

This wasn't necessarily an attempt to make the phone as pocket-friendly as possible in order to appear to consumers; instead, the slimmer design was likely an attempt to increase the total number of handsets Samsung could manufacture on each production line. (Source: instrumental.ai)

That wouldn't necessarily have been a problem had it not been for the battery design. It was what Instrumental described as a "jelly roll" set up in which a positive layer of lithium cobalt oxide was separated from a negative layer of graphite by two very thin polymer layers soaked in electrolytes.

Squashed Battery Overheated

Because the battery was compressed by the tight fit in the phone, the positive and negative layers were able to touch despite this "cushion". This then refocused energy away from powering the phone and instead toward heating up the electrolyte, and in turn increasing the flow of energy and creating more heat. This led to a vicious cycle that concluded in the explosions.

According to Instrumental, there's a good chance that even if the phone itself hadn't been so thin, the battery might well have swelled over time, creating enough pressure to set off the vicious cycle. (Source: bgr.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Have manufacturers gone too far in trying to build ever-slimmer mobile devices? Does this report change your attitude towards the question of whether Samsung could or should have foreseen the problem? Can Samsung regain consumer trust?