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Samsung says its most loyal base of customers across all of its products are those who've bought Note models. Just look at the thousands of Note 7 users still on Verizon -- the carrier is routing calls to its customer service to get them to turn the phones in. That's not including the hit to its reputation, which could take months, or even years, to repair.
The biggest task for Samsung this year will be regaining consumer trust, showing customers and potential customers that its devices are safe and that the company won't make the same mistakes again. Its top executives, speaking with CNET, said Samsung hoped the transparency would mark a good first step. I think it can be done.
Shortly after the Note 7 went on sale in mid-August , users started reporting overheating problems. Samsung originally tied the issues to a battery flaw and recalled all the Note 7 phones on the market. That didn't fix the problem, however, with the replacement devices also overheating. Samsung launched a rare second recall in October and stopped manufacturing the Note 7. Its focus then turned to finding out what went wrong. Samsung's new round of battery tests will include durability tests, like this one with a nail puncturing the battery.
Samsung tackled the Note 7 investigation as it approaches other challenges -- with a lot of manpower.
It built a testing facility in each of the four locations it manufactures its phones: Together, those sites tested more than , Note 7 devices with batteries and more than 30, batteries on their own. Samsung had more than engineers from its mobile division dedicated to the testing process. Samsung has more than 70, engineers in the broader company, but they're spread across its various divisions.
The engineers looked at software, hardware, manufacturing process, quality and assurance testing, and supply chain. They looked at things like whether the iris scanner or software algorithms caused overheating, or if the device's fast-charging capabilities had an impact. Initially, it was to no avail. Samsung turned its focus to the batteries themselves. Throughout the testing process, engineers were able to cause batteries to overheat, both in the device and on their own.
Samsung had two separate suppliers for its Note 7 batteries, which were custom-made for the Note 7. It specified the characteristics, like the voltage and physical size. Then it was up to its suppliers to design and manufacture the batteries as they saw fit. Samsung declined to confirm the names of the two suppliers, but the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said Samsung SDI which is separate from Samsung Electronics but has the same parent company, Samsung Group supplied the batteries responsible for the first recall.
Hong Kong-based Amperex Technology acknowledged on its site that it was the second supplier. Amperex declined to comment following Samsung's report, while a representative from Samsung SDI said no one from media relations was immediately available.
In the first supplier's battery, dubbed Battery A, Samsung discovered a design flaw that caused the battery to short-circuit. The supplier created a pouch the battery's outside casing that didn't have enough space to allow the battery to expand and contract when going through normal charge and discharge cycles. That caused the positive and negative electrodes to touch, short-circuiting the battery.
Some earlier reports speculated that Samsung's phone itself didn't leave room for the battery to expand. That wasn't the case, but Samsung plans in the future to leave even more room inside its devices for the battery. In the case of Battery B, from Samsung's second supplier, the flaw was related to manufacturing and quality issues.
The initial batteries from that supplier worked fine in earlier Note 7 devices, but when Samsung increased its order and pushed that supplier to become its sole battery provider, the battery maker introduced errors. Some protrusions were left over from the ultrasonic welding process that caused the battery to short-circuit. Samsung had asked the second supplier to build about 10 million new batteries.
One of the biggest questions facing Samsung during the Note 7 fiasco was how its quality and assurance process the tests its phones go through before being sold didn't catch the problem. Samsung would have had to do an X-ray test on Battery A to find the problem, while Battery B would have required Samsung to disassemble it to find the error. Neither of those were steps in Samsung's normal testing process but were handled by the battery manufacturers, Koh said.
Samsung has instituted an eight-point battery check to prevent the problems it had with the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung is now changing its testing process for key mobile components.
For its batteries specifically, Samsung is instituting an eight-point inspection process. Some of the steps previously were handled by its suppliers; some are new. One check is a durability test that examines the battery when it's been overcharged, punctured by a nail or exposed to extreme temperatures.
Now the focus will largely be on how the company deals with this recall and how quickly it can release safe phones into the market. Batteries are often pointed to as the cause.
For it is now offering phones that have built-in spyware. Home Features Buy Now. The last thing the brand needed Sign in to comment Be respectful, keep it clean and stay on topic. Sadoway has a theory -- albeit one without proof. Samsung is talking to global standards groups about sharing its new battery review process, Koh said. And mSpy helps me keep an eye on my daughter when I cannot be close to her.
But when you've spent quite some energy laughing at the iPhone's battery , you really don't want to have such an explosive issue with your own. Samsung appeared to rush the Note 7 to the market. Now it's in another rush to replace those phones.
It has to hope first that this problem will last a couple of weeks, rather than months, and that once the phones are in general use they'll still incite excitement rather than suspicion. It has to also hope that Apple doesn't reveal one more thing on September 7 that will make the re-release of the Note 7 seem like unfortunate plastic surgery. Be respectful, keep it clean and stay on topic.
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