Samsung suspends production of Galaxy Note7 smartphones

[HEXUS]

In reaction to new-model combustion incidents, say Reuters and Yonhap News sources.

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[CaptainAmerica]

Seriously, how does something like this happen? This isn't a revolutionary new technology, why is it so hard?

[aidanjt]

What I don't understand is why they only suspended production now. They should have suspended the moment they realised there's a problem and find a new battery supplier.

[Sunderas]

And there goes Samsung... Almost ripe enough for something like "Notegate"... Ahah.

[jimborae]

Seriously, how does something like this happen? This isn't a revolutionary new technology, why is it so hard?

No but it's an explosive technology being pushed to it's limit apparently.

[excalibur1814]

It's Samsung. Samsung is a large company that has now obtained the glory of being too big and, if you look back, it's been like this for awhile. My first incident with Samsung, other than a couple of WinMobiles, was the Samsung 7 Slate. We're talking about a tablet that cost over £1000! Straight away you could tell that there was going to be an issue, with early reports suggesting a screen issue.

Mine arrived and, after a few days of use the screen glass started to 'move away' from the actual casing. ALL of them did it. Samsung just replaced the units. In the U.K., initially, the issue was ignored.

Same stuff with their really thin, super expensive laptop at the time which featured terrible or failed wi-fi. Samsung is far too big to actually give a stuff. Until now. If it were not for the press they would not have stopped production and this, ladies and gentlemen, is the way business works. Sites reviewing these items are paid to ignore various things (the iPad pro battery problem wasn't posted on Engadget or The Verge). Who do you trust? I trust no review site or individual that can be paid.

Return your phone now. Make Samsung PAY for this situation which should never have passed testing.

[peterb]

I wonder if the delay is while Samsung negotiate with Amazon for use of the 'Fire' and 'Firestick' names?

Or perhaps they could re-release it as the 'Supernova' or 'Red Dwarf' (to maintain the Galaxy space rheme)

[directhex]

What I don't understand is why they only suspended production now. They should have suspended the moment they realised there's a problem and find a new battery supplier.

Clearly Samsung can't trust its existing battery manufacturer, Samsung SDI, not to pull a fast one.

[The Hand]

One was going up in a Burger King in South Korea:

[Xlucine]

I was hoping to replace my note 2 with one of those, guess I'll have to wait for the note 8 (as long as they keep the waterproofing)

[directhex]

"Let's make it super rounded! What could possibly go wrong?"

[scaryjim]

If they'd used a user-replaceable battery that couldn't have happened, presumably. Wonder how many people would trade a couple of hours' standby time for their phone not catching fire...?

[peterb]

If they'd used a user-replaceable battery that couldn't have happened, presumably. Wonder how many people would trade a couple of hours' standby time for their phone not catching fire...?

It could, as they could still have had a batch of defective batteries - if it is the battery. I wonder though if it is a problem in the battery charging and monitoring circuits. LiPo batteries are very unforgiving of both over-charging andalso to over-discharching. Over discharging can cause internal damage which then manifests itself next time the battery is charged. Consumer devices have charging circuits that should protect the batteries against both those events.

[scaryjim]

It could, as they could still have had a batch of defective batteries - if it is the battery. ...

Oh, I didn't mean the overall problem - just the cell bending as shown in the picture 'hex posted.

When I first saw that picture (earlier this morning on twitter, as it happens), I didn't get it, because I'm used to phones with removable batteries where the battery pack is sealed in a rigid plastic shell that protects the individual cells - so I couldn't see how the shape of the external case could possibly affect the battery cells like that. But it occurred to me that with a non-removable battery you wouldn't need to protect it separately, and as a result you could get more cells into the same amount of space simply by leaving off the protective plastic shell. I'm assuming that's what happens inside a Note 7: the cells aren't protected by an additional shell, they're open to the inside of the phone case, which makes them vulnerable to this kind of bending...

[peterb]

Ah right, I get the pictures now (my Korean isn't that good ) so the design flaw could be a chassis that can distort under certain conditions, like the iPhone 6, rather than the battery or electronics.

[directhex]

Oh, I didn't mean the overall problem - just the cell bending as shown in the picture 'hex posted.

When I first saw that picture (earlier this morning on twitter, as it happens), I didn't get it, because I'm used to phones with removable batteries where the battery pack is sealed in a rigid plastic shell that protects the individual cells - so I couldn't see how the shape of the external case could possibly affect the battery cells like that. But it occurred to me that with a non-removable battery you wouldn't need to protect it separately, and as a result you could get more cells into the same amount of space simply by leaving off the protective plastic shell. I'm assuming that's what happens inside a Note 7: the cells aren't protected by an additional shell, they're open to the inside of the phone case, which makes them vulnerable to this kind of bending...

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Sams.../66389#s135829 - plastic front, pretty much no casing on the back?