At this point in the Note 7 explosion fiasco, people are looking for answers, with Samsung’s head of mobile promising to get to the bottom of the whole thing.
Now a new report from the Wall Street Journal suggests the South Korean firm was the only major smartphone manufacturer to use its own battery testing facilities for CTIA certification.
Industry practice is to have batteries tested at one of 28 labs certified by the wireless industry trade group CTIA in order to certify the cells comply with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ standards.
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A battery has to be tested by itself and when powering the handset in order to gain CTIA certification, which also requires the cell to be exposed to high temperatures, simulating summer conditions, to ensure it can handle the heat.
But it seems Samsung opted for its own tests, which according to a spokesman for the company, revealed no issues with the Note 7’s battery.
The firm has been testing smartphones at its CTIA-certified lab since 2009, with other handset makers such as Motorola, also using their own labs to test batteries.
However, in order to sell smartphones at major US retailers, phone makers are required to have tested the batteries at one of the CTIA’s 28 approved sites – a practice which other manufacturers, including Motorola, follow, but which Samsung eschewed with the Note 7.
Following the Note 7’s disastrous launch, which forced Samsung to cease manufacturing of its flagship phablet, the firm has promised to improve quality assurance testing.
It is yet to release an official explanation for the Note 7’s overheating problems, after they were initially put down to the battery being packed into too tight a space.
Owners of Note 7 handsets have been told to immediately power down the devices and return them, with Royal Mail in the UK refusing to let the fire-prone handsets be returned via its network.
It remains to be seen whether Samsung will continue to use its own battery testing labs in the future, but it would make sense for it to make a change in that department, if only as part of its attempts to rebuild customer trust.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.