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Koh Dong-jin, president of mobile communications at Samsung Electronics is bowing to the press before announcing the results of its probe of the causes of fire cases involving the Galaxy Note 7 at its head office in Seoul’s Seocho-dong on January 23.
Koh Dong-jin, president of mobile communications at Samsung Electronics is bowing to the press before announcing the results of its probe of the causes of fire cases involving the Galaxy Note 7 at its head office in Seoul’s Seocho-dong on January 23.

 

It has been found that faulty batteries caused the Galaxy Note 7 to erupt in flames and ultimately led to the discontinuance of sales of the Galaxy Note 7 which was considered the most innovative smartphone in the history of smartphones.

In order to find out the causes of the ignition of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung Electronics had 700,000 internal and external experts conduct massive charge and discharge tests of 200,000 finished products and 30,000 batteries for about three months after its decision to discontinue production and sales last October. These tests found different causes in A and B Batteries supplied by different manufacturers.

In the case of A Battery, its top edge was pressed and its thin membrane was found to cause an internal short circuit. Analysts said that B Battery had no insulation tape and its separator so these facts were behind its ignition.

The smartphone industry expects that smartphones will have more features in the future and their screens will become larger compared to product sizes, increase a need for high-capacity batteries.

"In recent years, smartphones have expanded multimedia functions, so battery life should be long, and battery sizes are getting smaller to satisfy portability," said Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics. "Batteries for the Galaxy Note 7 were one of the most important specifications. Battery manufacturers made a mistake while introducing new design and manufacturing methods to meet these specifications. I have a sense of responsibility for failing to finally verify this point before the launch of the product. "

Samsung Electronics, which has identified the cause of the Galaxy Note 7 incident will concentrate its efforts on catching two rabbits -- reinforcing its image as a smartphone innovation leader and recover customer trust in the safety of its products through the next flagship smartphone Galaxy S8.

The Korean smartphone giant will introduce multiple safety management systems for the Samsung Galaxy S8 in all processes from design and launches. An 8-point battery safety check created an 8-step safety device for the smartphone.

Samsung Electronic decided not only to scale up its quality inspection staff but also to receive advice for enhancing safety from experts of academia and outside research centers at home and abroad.

To this end, Samsung Electronics set up a parts specialist team dedicated to core parts design, verification, and process control, and decided to expand its recruitment of external experts to strengthen its expertise in component development. An advisory board composed of experts from academia and research institutes was also established to carry out an objective evaluation of product safety.

The advisory committee was assembled with experts such as Dr. Claire Gray of the University of Cambridge in the UK, Dr. Gerbrand Cedar of the University of Berkeley in the United States, Dr. Yi Chui of Stanford University in the United States, and Doru Amaz, chief executive officer of Amarz Tech Consultant, LLC.

The Galaxy Note 7 released in the second half of last year, was evaluated as show the greatest innovation ever. Therefore, industry watchers expect that the Galaxy S8 will be unrivaled in services and technological innovation.

“The Galaxy S8 is expected to be released after MWC 2017 although the Galaxy S Series were unveiled the MWC in Barcelona of Spain in February over the past three years,” said President Kim Dong-jin said in the event to announce the results of its investigation into what caused the Galaxy Note 7 to erupt into fire. “It is a duty of Samsung Electronics' wireless division employees to satisfy customers with meaningful innovation.  Accordingly, Samsung Electronics is expected to take the wrap off the Galaxy S8 through a separate public event in New York in March. The new product is expected to hit shelves around mid-April.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 will be loaded with a voice-based AI assistant personal assistant, 'Bixby', as Samsung has said. To that end, Samsung Electronics acquired VIV Labs with technology on an open AI platform in the United States last October.

It is expected that Samsung Electronics eliminate a home button from the Galaxy S8 and minimize the thickness of its front bezel so that its front will be occupied with its screen. As the home button disappears, its fingerprint recognition point will move to its back.

It is highly likely that the new model will come in two sizes. It is said that Samsung Electronics, which had to go through a gap in the smartphone (phablet) market due to the Galaxy Note 7 incident, is expected to launch an additional Galaxy S8 model whose screen is as large as that of the Galaxy Note Series before the launch of the Galaxy Note 8 in the second half of this year.

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