Samsung has finally completed its investigation into why a number of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 handsets exploded, with the findings anything but surprising.
Although Samsung is still yet to share its official word on the investigation, a person familiar with the matter has confirmed to Reuters that the battery, as expected, was indeed to blame.
The internal tipster, who was not authorised to speak on the findings and so requested to remain anonymous, claimed issues with production of the phone’s batteries had triggered the worryingly dangerous events.
This rules out the possibility, as suggested by some experts, that the aggressively thin design of the phone was to blame for the fires.
Related: MWC 2017
Blamed for causing cars, houses and even people’s clothing to catch fire, the safety concerns saw Samsung quickly issue a global recall for the 5.7-inch device. The phone was also banned from airlines for fear of causing an on-board fire.
After an initial recall of 2.5 million handsets, replacement devices were also reported catching fire and a full recall was issued.
Although batteries have been blamed from the off, official word on the cause of the problems is still to be revealed.
Samsung will formally detail its findings into the Note 7 on January 23, the day before its quarterly earnings call.
“They’ve got to make sure they come clean and they’ve got to reassure buyers as to why this won’t happen again,” Bryan Ma, an analysts for researcher IDC said.
He added: “To me it’d be surprising if they said it was a supplier issue.”
Related: Will Samsung launch the Galaxy S8 at MWC?
With claims having suggested Samsung’s aggressive Note 7 failed to give the battery enough space within the device, the unnamed source claimed the company was able to replicate the fires during its tests.
They added these explosions couldn’t be explained by hardware design or software issues.
As well as reportedly costing the firm $5.2 billion (£4.3 billion), the Note 7 issues have also seemingly affected Samsung’s upcoming launch plans.
The eagerly awaited Samsung Galaxy S8 will reportedly miss its expected MWC unveiling in February in favour of a dedicated launch in April. This is said to be a direct knock-on from the Note 7 disaster.
WATCH: Note 7 vs S7 Edge: Head-to-Head
Are you put off buying future Samsung phones by the Note 7? Let us know below.
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Editorial independence
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.
