Galaxy Note 7 problem unlikely due to battery only, say sources

Samsung has already concluded its investigations and already knows what made its ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 explosive. It has already shared its findings with independent labs and is expected to share those results with the rest of the world soon, probably this month even. And yet, in an industry notorious for leakS, there how been very little info about that data and Samsung is exercising extreme caution with leaks. That may be because, according to industry sources, the root cause of the Galaxy Note 7's problem isn't simply a battery issue, contrary to what Samsung kept on insisting months ago.

When the Galaxy Note 7 started burning up, Samsung's very quick investigation pointed the finger at a small and rare manufacturing defect with the battery. Samsung's own Samsung SDI business quickly became the scapegoat of that fiasco. That conclusion, however, was quickly debunked when other Galaxy Note 7's, those using batteries from Chinese ATL, started catching fire too.

There has been some controversy regarding how Samsung carried out its first internal investigation, with insiders claiming that Samsung jumped the gun too soon just to keep the Galaxy Note 7 in the market longer. That might, indeed, be the case as the official, and hopefully final, report is speculated to reveal. And, no, it's not just a simple battery problem.

While the battery is of course, involved, since it is the primary combustible component in any phone, it wasn't to blame alone. Instead, it could be a combination of parts swelling up due to overcharging as well as insufficient heat dissipation. The latter is a common phenomenon when cramming high performance hardware in a cramped space like the very thing Galaxy Note 7.

Although it already has the results of the investigation, Samsung strongly admonished its employees to prevent any form of leakage. It fears that premature revelation could hurt its chances of saving face with the Galaxy S8. If anything more than just the battery is to be revealed as the incendiary cause, Samsung might have to cut back on features for this year's flagship, which, in turn, could hurt Samsung's profits even more.

VIA: JoongAng Ilbo