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Samsung phone recall shows challenge of stronger batteries

Galaxy Note 7 replacements in stores Wednesday

By YOUKYUNG LEE, Associated Press
Published: September 15, 2016, 4:31pm

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung’s recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones after several dozen caught fire and exploded may stem from a subtle manufacturing error, but it highlights the challenge electronics makers face in packing ever more battery power into ever thinner phones, while rushing for faster release dates.

Announcing the recall on Sept. 2, Samsung confirmed dozens of cases where Note 7 batteries caught fire or exploded, mostly while charging. It plans a software update that will cap battery recharging at 60 percent capacity to help minimize risks of overheating. But it is urging owners to keep the phones turned off until they can get them replaced, beginning Monday.

U.S. safety regulators stepped in Thursday with an official recall, saying Samsung’s voluntary efforts were inadequate. Though Samsung promised replacement devices, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said U.S. customers would be eligible for refunds. Replacements are expected in stores by Wednesday.

The Note 7 debuted to rave reviews in August thanks to its speed, new software features and the estimated nine hours it would run between charges. But all that power comes at a price: Users began reporting the phones were catching fire or exploding, in one case incinerating the SUV it had been left in.

Aviation authorities in the U.S., Australia and Europe have urged passengers not to use or charge Note 7s while flying and not to put them in checked baggage.

Koh Dong-jin, Samsung’s mobile president, said in announcing the recall on Sept. 2 that an investigation turned up a “tiny error” in the manufacturing process for the faulty batteries in the Note 7s that was very difficult to identify. The end of the pouch-shaped battery cell had some flaws that increased the chance of stress or overheating, he explained.

That kind of manufacturing error is unimaginable for top-notch battery makers with adequate quality controls, said Park Chul Wan, a former director of the next generation battery research center at the Korea Electronics Technology Institute.

Samsung and other experts should search for factors outside the battery cells that could have led to overheating, he said.

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“If Koh’s argument is right, that makes Samsung SDI a third-rate company,” Park said. “But it does not appear to be a simple battery problem.”

Time is a factor in marketing and making the phones.

In 2015, Samsung moved up its unveiling of its new Galaxy Note model to August from September, seeking a leg up on Apple’s September iPhone upgrades.

Before the issue of battery explosions emerged, supplies were not keeping pace with demand for the Note 7.

Samsung has not recalled Note 7s sold in China, but the company has refused to say which of its two battery suppliers made the faulty batteries or clarify whose batteries are used in which Note 7 smartphones. The company also refused comment on South Korean media reports that it has stopped using batteries from Samsung SDI, one of its two suppliers, in the Note 7.

C.W. Chung, an analyst at Nomura Securities in Seoul, cited SDI officials in estimating that about 70 percent of the batteries for the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones came from SDI.

The other 30 percent are thought to have been supplied by Amperex Technology Ltd., a Chinese-based manufacturer that reportedly also is a main supplier of batteries for the iPhone.

Problems with lithium batteries have afflicted everything from laptops to Tesla cars to Boeing’s 787 jetliner, though having so many lithium-ion battery fires in a short time is unheard of, Park said.

The batteries are ubiquitous in consumer electronic devices, favored by manufacturers because they are lightweight and pack more energy into a small space than other power cells.

But storing so much energy in a tiny space, with combustible components separated by ultra-thin walls, makes them susceptible to overheating if exposed to high temperatures, damage or flaws in manufacturing. If the separators fail, a chemical reaction can quickly escalate out of control.

That’s what happened with the Note 7, Samsung’s Koh explained.

“The flaw in the manufacturing process resulted in the negative electrodes and the positive electrodes coming together,” he told reporters in Seoul.

It is unclear how Samsung failed to discover the problem before launching the Note 7. It confirmed delays in shipments for extra quality tests in late August, after photos of charred phones appeared on social media.

The Note 7 phones have a powerful 3,500 milliampere hour battery, whereas the Galaxy S7 smartphone features a 3,000 mAh battery. So does the Note 5, launched in 2015.

The 3,500 mAh battery in the Samsung Note 7 is “one of the highest, if not the highest, capacity battery we’ve seen in a phone,” said Wayne Lam, an analyst at IHS Markit Technology.

Lam said he thinks the problem resulted from weak controls in manufacturing.

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