Continuous Consumers’ Anxiety
Samsung Electronics seemed to sail through a recall of the Galaxy Note 7. But two cases where the device caught fire at home and abroad are worrying customers once again.
According to the smartphone industry on October 6, the Galaxy Note 7 burst into flames in Korea on October 1 and in the US on October 5 (local time), respectively.
The Korea SGS Giheung Test Center and the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy looked into the Korean case and found out that external shocks and pressures caused the battery some problems and finally ignited the fire. They concluded that the product itself had no problems.
The Galaxy Note 7 of a passenger caught fire in the Airplane 994 of Southwest Airlines staying at Louisville Airport in Kentucky, promoting the emergency evacuation of passengers and delaying the departure of the airplane on October 5 (local time). At the moment, the fire forensics team of the Louisville Fire Department is keeping the device.
Although the domestic case is a relatively fortunate thing for Samsung Electronics, the American case draws attention since Samsung Electronics did not get the smartphone in question and does not know what the results of the investigation will be.
It is expected that it will take quite a long time to find out the exact cause of the fire in the American case. As the fire broke out on the airplane, involving US aviation and fire department authorities, the investigation into the American case will be more complicated than Samsung’s own investigation in terms of procedures.
Even though it is too premature to come to a conclusion, no one can thoughtlessly exclude a possible defect in the battery itself in the American case since it is not possible to find out whether or not the smartphone received any external shocks. Some people prudently suggested a possibility of a flaw in the battery. Many possibilities have been raised, including a possible design problem of the battery’s external part that fails to properly absorb external shocks or a glitch in the software that controls the battery.
Samsung Electronics is giving all its energies to accurate investigations and explanations since the cases hold the key to its future. Samsung Electronics stressed that they proved 59 of all reports of fire from the Galaxy Note 7 received from around the world clearly false and no battery problem occurred to more than 1.2 million units of the new product sold. In addition, they say that they cannot conclude that the Galaxy Note 7 in the US case is a replacement until the device is collected and they find out the exact cause of the fire.