News
News Categories

What you need to know about the Samsung Note7 battery saga

By Alvin Soon - on 4 Sep 2016, 10:45am

#ICYMI Friday: What you need to know about the Samsung Note7 battery saga

Note: This article was first published on 2nd September 2016.

Updated 7/9/16: Samsung announced details of its Note7 exchange program in Singapore

Updated 7/9/16: Samsung says this is what went wrong with the Note7 battery.

Updated 19/9/16: Samsung has an online IMEI checker where you can determine if your Note7 is among those affected.

The biggest news this week?

That Samsung has stopped sales of its latest flagship, the Galaxy Note7, amid reports of exploding batteries. The company will replace sold devices with new ones; the exact replacement process will be announced next week.

Samsung is stopping sales of the Note7 in all 10 countries where the smartphone has been launched so far, except in China. According to Samsung, the models there use a different battery.

The announcement comes barely two weeks after the Note7 went on sale. After users posted photos of their burnt Note7s with exploded batteries, Samsung mounted an investigation and found 35 Note7s worldwide with battery cell issues.

Samsung said that it will take about two weeks to prepare replacement devices for the Note7 phones already sold. In the meantime, Singapore’s three local telcos have halted sales of the Galaxy Note7.

How did this all start?

This whole saga erupted when two users posted photos of Galaxy Note7s which had apparently exploded while charging. The first report seems to have come from China’s social network Baidu, while the second was posted on Kakao Story in South Korea, according to BusinessKorea (which says the post has since been deleted).

This image of a burnt Note7 first appeared on Baidu.

This image of a burnt Samsung Galaxy Note7 was posted on the "Ppomppu" online community in Kakao Story.

At first, speculation was rife that it might have been third-party USB-C charging cables that caused the batteries to overheat and explode. But since the two reports went viral, more reports of Note7s exploding went online. South Korean school teacher Park Soo-Jung told the Associated Press that her Note7 burst into flames in her bedroom. A YouTube user named Ariel Gonzalez posted a video, showing his burnt Note7, which caught fire during charging.

Samsung suspends the Note7

Samsung suspended deliveries of the Note7 within South Korea, and paused the Note7’s launch in the UK. The news couldn’t have come at a worse time, as its rival Apple Inc. is poised to reveal its new iPhone 7 smartphones next week on September 7th. Samsung’s stock dove down two percent this past Thursday, knocking US$7 billion off its market evaluation.

What our HWZ Note7 owners are saying

Our Samsung user group forums have posted their own problems with the Note7, although none have experienced an exploding battery (luckily). There are posts about bricked Note7s, battery drain, and warm phones.

To be fair; we can’t tell from just our forums whether these specific problems are limited to a small number of users or if they’re more widespread. Every device launch is prone to launch issues, just browse any forums after a major launch and you’ll be able to find some.

What should you do if you own a Note7?

 

Samsung says that it found 35 cases of battery cell issues worldwide, and this amongst the 2 million Note7s already sold.

Still, it’s impossible to know for certain if your Note7 is affected by the same battery issue or not (update: you can check if your Note7 is among those affected using Samsung’s online IMEI checker).

To err on the side of caution, we’d suggest that you power down your Note7 and keep it somewhere in the open, away from flammable objects. Use another phone in the meantime.

Update: Samsung and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission have strongly recommended that affected Note7 owners should not continue using their Note7s. Some airlines have also banned the Note7 from being used onboard, including our own Singapore Airlines.

If you’d prefer to keep using your Note7, here’s what we’d suggest:

  1. Only charge the Note7 using the USB-C cable and adapter that came with it
  2. Charge it at a distance away from you and flammable objects, but where you can see it
  3. Never leave it charging unattended; don’t leave it charging overnight when you’re sleeping
  4. Avoid carrying the Note7 in your pockets, put it inside your bag

And watch out next week for Samsung’s announcement on how to get your Note7 replaced.

Update 7/9/16: Samsung has announced details of its Note7 exchange program in Singapore.

Read next

Here are the official statements from Samsung, and our local telcos Singtel and StarHub, as well as news from M1.

Find out about other users’ experience of the Note7 on our Samsung user group forum.

Stay tuned to HardwareZone for the latest as it happens (the easiest way is to follow our Facebook page here).

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.