Samsung Electronics has blamed the recall of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on faulty batteries and announced new measures to ensure its batteries are safe going forward. The head of Samsung Mobile, DJ Koh said at a presentation in Seoul that both the original Galaxy Note 7 lithium-ion battery and its replacement had problems. Damaged or incorrectly placed elements of the batteries led to the positive and negative electrodes coming into contact, causing the overheating of some batteries.
To help prevent such problems in future, Samsung said it's developed an eight-point battery check. The series of tests uses both machines and the human eye to test a range of factors in the battery before the phone's assembled. The company has also set new safety standards for battery materials, added extra protective layers around the battery in phones and developed new software to to control battery temperature and avoid overheating.
Samsung also formed a Battery Advisory Group of external advisers, academic and research experts to help support its objectives on battery safety and innovation. The group includes chemistry professor Clare Grey from the University of Cambridge, who gave a presentation on the Note 7 investigation at the press conference.
Samsung conducted its own investigation as well as hiring independent experts to look at why several of the Note 7 smartphones caught fire. The incidents led to a global recall of the device last fall as well as a profit warning from Samsung.
