GALAXY NOTE 7 RECALL: SAMSUNG OWNERS, HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Samsung says battery flaw in production caused excessive heat in Galaxy Note 7
By Francis Iyamba. — September 13, 2016 10:18 AM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What's happening?
If you bought a Note 7, here's what you should do
How long do you have to send it in?
What are the chances your Note 7 will explode?
How to prevent a battery fire
How will the news affect Samsung?
Spontaneous combustion is probably the last thing you’d expect from your shiny, expensive new smartphone, but it’s a fate that’s befallen a handful of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 units. Seoul, South Korea-based news agency Yonhap News initially reported that as many as five Note 7 owners have documented their units suddenly catching fire. As of September 2 that number climbed to 35, but reports of explosive phones keep coming, with one allegedly causing a Canadian man’s house to burn down, and another burning asix-year-old in New York.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung spurred to action. The electronics giant halted all shipments of the handset to South Korean mobile carriers in order to “investigate” the issue, and on September 2 took the unprecedented step of recalling the more than 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 devices that have already shipped to consumers, brick-and-mortar stores, and online retailers since the handset’s launch on August 19.
On September 9, Samsung announced that it had been collaborating with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on a plan to “expedite” that recall. In astatement, the agency said, “The CPSC is urging all consumers who own a Samsung Galaxy Note7 to power them down and stop charging or using the device.”
“Samsung continues to ensure that consumer safety remains our top priority,” said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America. “Consumers can return their Note 7 for another device.”
The story continues to develop, but here’s what we know so far.
What’s happening?
Initially, the impetus for Samsung’s decision to halt Galaxy Note 7 shipments wasn’t clear.
On August 31, Yonhap News reported that Samsung had temporarily suspended deliveries of Note 7 devices to major South Korean mobile carriers including SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus. Initially, the company was reluctant to acknowledge the delay. “We are checking whether the deliveries were halted or not,” a Samsung official told the publication.
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Early speculation pointed to a mechanical flaw involving the S-Pen, the proprietary stylus that ships with the Note 7. YouTube videos and reports on the web appeared to show a problem with the S-Pen’s handset slot — the ejection button used to remove the pen had a tendency to become stuck on some units. Samsung acknowledged the issue on Wednesday, began offering free replacements to affected customers, and instructed owners that hadn’t experienced the issue “not to push too hard” in the S-Pen’s housing “after the click sound.”
But evidence of a far more serious — and dangerous — problem began to emerge early this week: the potential for Note 7 devices to explode while connected to a wall charger. One documented account on social media, a YouTube video posted by user Ariel Gonzalez, appeared to show a Note 7 warped almost beyond the point of recognition.
“Came home from work, put it to charge for a little bit before I had class,” he said. “Went to put it on my waist and it caught fire. Yup. Brand new phone, not even two weeks old. Be careful out there, everyone rocking the new Note 7, might catch fire.”
A South Korean schoolteacher, Park Soo-Jung, told the Associated Press that her Galaxy Note 7 “burst into flames” unexpectedly, filling her apartment with smoke. “If the exploded phone in flame was near my head, I would not have been able to write this post.”
And posts on Korean social media appeared to corroborate reports. Most showed Note 7 units with severely damaged screens and charging ports.
In response to the growing chorus of concern, Samsung confirmed to Yonhap News on August 31 that it had delayed Note 7 shipments in order to conduct “quality control” testing. “The most important thing is the safety of our customers, and we don’t want to disappoint our loyal customers,” a company official said.
The results of those tests, the company said, were consistent with reports: some Note 7 units could, under rare conditions, explode while being charged. “[We] conducted a thorough investigation and found a battery cell issue,” it said in a statement on Thursday. “Samsung is committed to producing the highest-quality products and we take every incident report from our valued customers very seriously.”
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The company indicated the problem likely wasn’t widespread — Note 7 units with faulty batteries accounted for “less than 0.1 percent of the entire volume sold,” a representative told Yonhap News, or roughly 24 phones for every million sold — but not necessarily easy to resolve. A Samsung representative told Yonhap news that faulty units “couldn’t be [fixed] by changing the battery.”
In its preliminary findings, Samsung says it has discovered a problem in the production process “that placed pressure on plates contained within battery cells,” according to Bloomberg. This pushed the negative and positive poles into contact, which thereby caused excessive heat. An investigation is still underway to sort out the exact cause.
Out of an abundance of caution, then, Samsung announced a broad recall on September 2. “The problem can be simply resolved by changing the battery, but we’ll come up with convincing measures for our customers,” a spokesperson for the company said. “For customers who already have Galaxy Note 7 devices, we will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks.”
“We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market but this is to ensure that Samsung continues to deliver the highest-quality products to our customers,” it said. “We are working closely with our partners to ensure the replacement experience is as convenient and efficient as possible.”
If you bought a Note 7, here’s what you should do
You’ll have to send your shiny new Note 7 back where it came from.
Samsung’s Note 7 recall affects almost all of the 2.5 million units that have been shipped to sellers and buyers, and it covers the 10 countries where the phones have been sold. According to the The Wall Street Journal, Samsung has instructed recipients abroad to return Note 7 deliveries as they receive them, and major cell phone carriers in the U.S., Australia, and South Korea have taken the extraordinary step of withdrawing the Note 7 from sale.
Samsung expects that it’ll take “two weeks” to manufacture replacement phones, but said that customers who already bought the phones would get replacements before the new phones go on sale.
It’ll be easy to tell refurbished Note 7 units from the defective models. The Verge reported that Samsung will designate future batches of Note 7 unit with a small, circular sticker affixed to the box bar code. In addition, the company will be launching an online IMEI database tool that will allow owners to quickly determine whether or note their device is safe to use.
What’s a Note 7 owner to do in the meantime, though?
If you’re on a U.S. carrier, you have options:
Sprint announced on Friday that it would offer customers “loaner devices” ahead of the recall.T-Mobile, meanwhile, said it would offer a “complete refund” on Note 7 devices and accessories — specifically, the full amount paid at time of purchase plus any and all associated fees. And it said that it let those who received a free Netflix subscription as a bonus for pre-ordering the Note 7 retain that benefit, if they so choose.Verizon said it would offer refunds and exchanges for Note 7 buyers.AT&T hadn’t announced an exchange process as of publication time, but is expected to later on Friday.
Head into your local carrier stores to obtain refunds or loaner devices. Alternatively, Samsung has started a new exchange program for Note 7 users in the U.S., a program that will come with two different options — either exchange the Note 7 for a new Note 7, or exchange it for a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, and you’ll get a refund of the difference in price between the two devices. In addition, every Note 7 owner is getting a $25 gift card from select retailers. To get a new device, you can head to the store you bought the Note 7 from, or call 1-800-SAMSUNG.
Note 7 owners in South Korea, meanwhile, are eligible for a full refund for their device or can exchange it for a new one. And starting Saturday, Samsung said it’ll roll out a “battery-monitoring service” for users in the country to “ensure their devices are safe.”
In the U.K., Samsung has also begun its exchange process, with the company noting that British providers and operators will soon be reaching out to smartphone owners to set up exchanges. If you want to be more proactive, however, you can call Samsung’s customer support team at 0330 7261000 and start the process yourself.
If you’re in Canada, Samsung Electronics Canada Executive Vice President Paul Brannen has made it clear that your safety is a major concern of the company. “Samsung holds safety and consumer satisfaction as a top priority,” he said. “While there have been no confirmed incidents in Canada, Samsung is taking a proactive approach to address customer needs around the Note 7 and immediately addressing any consumer concerns.” Canadian Galaxy Note 7 owners will be able to exchange their phone for either a new version of the same phone, or opt for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge instead. Register your Galaxy Note 7 here for the recall.
There’s one, crucial exception to the recall: China. Samsung said that Note 7 models sold there use a battery from a different supplier that isn’t susceptible to the issue other variants are experiencing.
New Note 7 devices are shipping to customers that replaced them via the recall process beginning the week of September 19. Samsung is distinguishing the fixed devices with a note indicating as such. There will also be a circular sticker with a blue S in the middle that confirms the device’s battery is safe. Samsung says it looks something like this:
On September 13, Samsung is launching a IMEI database tool that lets you run a search to check whether your device is one of the safe replacements. You can check your smartphone’s IMEI number in the settings menu, or check the device’s barcode label on the box.
How long do you have to send it in?
Samsung hasn’t announced a hard-and-fast return window, but said that it would begin exchanging and refunding Galaxy Note 7 devices in South Korea starting September 19.
Verizon customers, meanwhile, have until September 30 to receive a waiver of fees on their Note 7 purchase.
What are the chances your Note 7 will explode?
The Note 7 may be one of the higher-profile consumer devices in recent to exhibit — ahem — explosive tendencies, but it’s far from the first. Still, it seems to be getting the most attention.
Australian airlines, Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin Australia have banned the charging of Galaxy Note 7’s in the carriers’ cabins. Qantas, in a statement to Reuters, said that is considering a similar ban on in-flight usage. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has advised passengers not to power on or charge Galaxy Note 7 units on domestic flights. And aviation regulators in India and Japan have since followed suit.
The battery’s the problem.
The sort of Lithium-ion cells found in smartphones are packed extremely tightly. As a result, the flammable separator between the battery’s anode and cathode — the two elements between which current flows — is incredibly thin, and therefore prone to damage. Once the separator’s pierced, catastrophe results, typically in the form of a short circuit. An excessive amount of heat boils the battery’s electrolyte, ruptures its cell casing, and causes an explosion or fire.
More: The days of exploding lithium-ion batteries might soon be over
And worse, Lithium-ion battery fires are difficult to contain. Most electrolytes burn quickly when hit by a fresh supply of air, and when the fire reaches a certain thermal threshold, the materials in the cathode begin to supply oxygen, too.
Samsung will push an over-the-air update to current Note 7 devices in South Korea that limits the battery recharge to 60 percent. That’s to prevent them from overheating and reduce the risk of an explosion, according to the Associated Press. The update will roll out on September 20, but it’s not a solution. Samsung is in talks with carriers to push the update to other Note 7 devices in the U.S. and around the world as an effort to contain the crisis.
In 2006, Dell and Dell were forced to recall millions of laptop batteries after reports emerged of overheating. More recently in 2014, car manufacturer Tesla redesigned its cars to better protect the batteries housed within them.
How to prevent a battery fire
Preventing a battery fire is relatively straightforward and, unless you have a phone prone to exploding like the Note 7, you can usually prevent it by taking these steps. And again, it’s also extremely rare.
Common sense tips to avoid an exploding phone:
Stick to the original charging cable and wall adapter. In the case of the Note 7, use the official Samsung accessories that came bundled with your smartphone.Don’t leave your device in hot areas — especially when it’s charging.If you plan to use a demanding app that’s likely to generate a lot of internal heat, make sure you do so in a well-ventilated, cool place.Don’t smother your smartphone. Putting it under your pillow, or in a tight, restricting enclosure, or under a cushion will encourage a buildup of heat.The same goes for laptops and other devices that use lithium-ion batteries (almost everything that recharges these days).
As for the widely-held perception that fully charged smartphones present a clearer danger than, say, handsets left to drain by your bedside all night, that’s only half true. While battery fires are more intense if the battery is fully charged, the capacity of the battery itself in no way impacts its likelihood of explosion.
How will the news affect Samsung?
The Galaxy Note 7 recall is one of the industry’s largest in history, and obviously a major setback for Samsung. But it’s unclear how drastically it will impact the company’s bottom line — or reputation, for that matter.
Samsung was expected to sell as many as 15 million Note 7 phones this year, or almost double the 9 million Note 5 units it shipped last year. And before this week’s news, it appeared well on its way to hitting that mark: the company said it sold 400,000 units in the first week of the Note 7’s availability and demand had generally outstripped supply.
Samsung’s 2016 revenue had bested expectations, too. The company reported a rise in second quarter operating profit to $15 billion — up 15 percent from the same period a year earlier. And it gained market share at the expense of rivals like Apple, nabbing 22.4 percent of smartphone sales — a five percent jump — thanks to higher-than-anticipated “demand for higher-end phones,” according to market analysts at IDC.
In light of the newest developments, though, some analysts expect a reversal. Park Jung-hoon, an asset fund manager at HDC, told Reuters that that Samsung’s profits would fall short of initial projections. He anticipates a decline in mobile operating profit by up to 200 billion won — or roughly $179 million — in the fiscal period between July and September.
Already, shares of Samsung stock have fallen since the beginning of this week.
You can read more about the recall and the company’s statement here.
Article originally published on 08-31-2016. Imad Khan, Julian Chokkattu, and Lulu Chang contributed to this report. Updated on 09-13-2016 by Julian Chokkattu: Added details about an OTA update coming that restricts charging on current Note 7 devices. Also added more details regarding the cause of the Note 7 issues.
Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-halts-galaxy-note-7-shipments-phones-catching-fire/#ixzz4KEce27UD
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