Galaxy Note 7 : the mystery of the explosions finally pierced ? – ZDNet France

initially, Samsung had promised to deliver before the end of the year, an explanation clear about the Galaxy Note 7 of which the battery has a tendency to overheat and ignite. But obviously, the investigation took a little more time than expected.

today, the world’s number one smartphones would have a clear idea of the reasons that led to this fiasco. According to Reuters, the results of this investigation may be revealed during this month of January, history of turn the page and move to the strategic launch of the Galaxy S8 scheduled between late February and April.

For the moment, speculation around the case Note 7 multiply. We can, however, build on the work of independent engineers which are also discussed in this case. Their findings seem to confirm the first few tracks : know that the battery is not the only cause.

According to Instrumental.I, the battery can not physically enough breathing

It would be nice in the face of a combination of factors : the battery would have been rendered dangerous because of the design “aggressive” of the smartphone. By “aggressive” means “too late”. In this race to the fineness (the Note is only 7.9 mm thick), Samsung might be going too far as the chassis would place pressure on the battery, all the more that the compartment that receives the battery has been reduced to the maximum.

Thus, instead of having 0.5 mm of space to “breathe” in his compartment, the battery of the Note should merely 0.1 and 0.3 mm of margin, such as shown in the photo above. However, in use, the battery has tendency to slightly inflate…

This pressure, as well as a separator physical anode/cathode end too have contributed to promote phenomenon of thermal runaway, which occurs when there is a short-circuit between the cathode and the anode, and therefore a risk of fire.

and the question now is whether this risk was not known at the the design of the device. Samsung he wanted to go too fast cut the grass under the foot to Apple and its iPhone 7, at the risk of play the Russian roulette ? For the site Instrumental.I originally this survey, there has in any case not photo : “Samsung has clearly failed in his tests of validation of the design and delivered a product dangerous.”