Authorities have completed an investigation into the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle, which dealt a heavy blow to the South Korean company.
The Note 7 carried faulty batteries that caused explosions and fire according to reports from users. To address the issue, the Seoul-based company recalled around 2.5 million units of the smartphone and terminated the production and marketing of the short-lived model. It also vowed to probe the debacle and release its findings before the end of 2016.
The investigation by the Korea Testing Laboratory and UL is reportedly complete. However, the company has not yet disclosed the findings to the public yet.
President and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America Gregory Lee said that the company would "reexamine every aspect of the device, including all hardware, software, manufacturing and overall battery structure."
There are speculations that the explosions were caused by the tight internal margins to meet the demands of the handset's extremely thin dimension. Samsung reportedly made the device thin to rival Apple's iPhone.
Instrumental has a theory that: "The Note 7's lithium polymer battery is a flattened jelly-roll consisting of a positive layer made of lithium cobalt oxide, a negative layer made of graphite, and two electrolyte-soaked separator layers made of polymer. The separator layers allow ions (and energy) to flow between the positive and negative layers, without allowing those layers to touch. If the positive and negative layers ever do touch, the energy flowing goes directly into the electrolyte heating it, which causes more energy to flow and more heat - it typically results in an explosion. Compressing the battery puts pressure on those critical polymer separator layers that keep the battery safe."
Samsung has learned its lesson and is expected to be careful with its future flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone. The said model is rumored to have curved display and will come without a headphone jack and home button. It will feature dual speakers and an AI assistant.