Samsung had some really bad luck with the battery on the Galaxy Note 7.
Some estimate 17 billion dollars worth of bad luck.
Yesterday Samsung explained that they used over 700 engineers to figure out where all
their bad luck came from...
So lets see what they found out.
[INTRO]
Lithium Ion Batteries are made of layers.
Positive and negative electrodes wrapped around each other like a electrically charged toilet
paper roll.
Normally these positive and negative layers are insulated from each other.
Because as we know... anytime the positive and negative leads on a battery touch, they
short circuit and cause sparks.
That's why nearly all batteries in existence have warnings on them saying not to crush
or damage them.
I disassembled my first Note 7 right after I bought it.
Like I always do.
Notice that white battery icon in the top corner of the phone, I removed the battery
for the tear-down video.
This was before the first recall, and before anyone knew the batteries were exploding.
You can see here in the corner of the battery that it curves in just slightly.
Samsung used the word 'deflected' to describe this curve. and that deflation is what is
causing the positive and negative electrodes to touch, inside the battery, making the battery
short circuit, spark, and catch fire inside the phone.
I purchased another Note 7 after the first recall was complete and the phone was re released
again.
See the black square on the label of the box? and the green battery icon in the corner of
the phone?
These two mean the phone is safe to use.
(or so we though.)
Here is me taking apart this safe Note 7 to analyze the 'new replacement' battery.
My mom says I need a girlfriend.
The interesting part on this 'fixed' battery is that the printed date is August 29 2016
This battery was manufactured BEFORE the initial recall date of September 2nd.
And before the re release of the phone less than a month later after the first recall.
That's incredibly interesting.
Samsung was using replacement batteries that were manufactured before they even announced
the recall, which also means that this battery was manufactured even researched the problem.
Makes you wonder if some of their bad luck is self inflicted.
Now the manufacture of these two batteries IS different.
The 'safe' replacement battery is made by this factory, and the original is made By
this factory.
So Samsung probably assumed the second battery was fine, purely since it was from a different
factory, Its super interesting that both the old battery and the 'fixed' battery have the
same deflection in the upper right corner.
iPhone batteries on occasions have exploded as well.
they are not exempt from the inherent dangers of lithium , they use the same technology.
BUT Apples' batteries are also straight up and down on the sides as you can see here
from the battery inside the iPhone 7.
There is no deflection, and no flaw, which means the rate of failure is going to be exponentially
smaller.
Now, Samsung said that the reason the second group of batteries exploded (Group B) or the
'Safe ones' was because the positive electrode welding burr was poking through the insulation
tape, (When welding or soldering, a burr is something that sticks up, or isnt flush with
the finished surface).
The insulation tape is probably this blue stuff here, the burr was pushing through that
and touching the negative electrode.
And when the positive and negative points touch... sparks fly, and bad things happen.
My tweezers are intentionally acting as the short circuit in the video.
Shorting the positive and negative layers together to effectively demonstrate the actual
event.
I think Samsung has done an amazing thing by recalling 3 millions phones.
And unfortunately losing so much money in the process.
It takes some real backbone for a company to do something like that.
And they do it for us, their customers.
So Ill give them a thumbs up for that.
With hindsight though, its painfully obvious that the second release of the Note 7 was
rushed.
And the second round of batteries had a the same issue that the first round of batteries
with that deflated corner, and the short circuit.
A little research on Samsungs part between recalls and I might still have a Note 7 in
my pocket today.
Its been my phone of choice since the Note 2.
The good news is that Samsung is Not canceling the Note line up.
And there will be a note 8 in the future.
And you can bet Ill be buying one for myself.
If you haven't returned your note 7.
You really should.
Not because you could hurt yourself.
Thats totally fine and I don't care about that.
But you could hurt someone else or cause damage to someone elses property.
And I do care about that.
Don't hurt other people with your negligence.
Out of 3 million phones.
96 percent have been returned.
That leaves over 100,000 of you that are making unintelligent decisions.
Samsung has made it extremely easy to return the device.
And you should take advantage of that.
And let me know in the comments if you think Samsung is going to have any problems with
the Galaxy S8 that comes out in the very near future.
If you enjoyed this video check out some of the other videos ive made on the Note 7.
Like how they ship exploding phones.
Hit that subscribe button.
I do appreciate it.
And you wont miss any of my future durability tests or teardowns.
Thanks for watching!
Ill see you around.