Samsung is holding a press conference in three days to explain the defect in the Galaxy Note 7 that forced the product’s recall, but already it is being reported that wrongly-sized batteries were what made some units combust.
As Samsung prepares to release its findings, a Wall Street Journal report that cites “people familiar with the matter” claims that the investigation found that some devices were prone to overheating because they contained “irregularly sized” batteries that did not properly fit the phone. Beyond that core assessment, the Journal reported that Samsung’s report also found that further manufacturing problems impacted so-called safe devices, which ultimately caused a full recall.
To recap: initially, when reports of customers’ devices exploding emerged, Samsung believed that the issue was related to phones with batteries produced by its Samsung SDI affiliate. Thus, it recalled the Samsung SDI devices and instructed its second manufacturer — Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL) — to increase its own production to keep up with the demand and cover replacement units.
