Which brand of Samsung is exploding. The phone explosion is gaining momentum. What's happening to the world's leading gadget sellers?

In August, the new Galaxy Note 7 from Samsung was released. At the same time, the company proudly announced that 45 thousand pre-orders from Europe had already been made for the new flagship model. As recently as October 11, the company stopped completely producing the phablet - the phone lasted on the market for no more than two months.

If you hurry, you will make people laugh

In its constant race with Apple for “bigger-thinner-more powerful”, the South Korean giant Samsung did not bother to test the new smartphone for explosiveness. And who cares about such trifles when a competitor is going to release a new smartphone with a numbering higher than that of the latest Samsung flagship. The iPhone 7 made developers nervous and abandoned the production of the sixth Galaxy Note, throwing all their efforts into developing the seventh flagship of the Galaxy Note series.

Explosive consequences

The first explosions followed in the first week of sales of the phablet. On August 24, an explosion occurred in China while a device was charging. Fortunately, there was no fire, and the owner escaped with a slight shock.

The second recorded case was less successful - the device exploded right in the car, causing the car to catch fire. There were also cases of fires on board aircraft, after which many airlines began to require their passengers to completely turn off their Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.

In the first two weeks after the sale of the flagship, about 50 cases of fire caused by the explosion of the device were reported.

On September 2, the company officially began recalling its new product in order to make additional changes to the device. At the same time, Samsung began replacing defective smartphones with the same model.

But it was strange to expect different behavior from an identical device - smartphones with kamikaze tenacity continued to undermine the company’s reputation.

On October 11th, Samsung completely stopped production of the Galaxy Note 7.

Who is guilty?

To understand the cause of the explosions, you need to understand the device of the smartphone itself, namely, the design of lithium-ion batteries, since they were the ones that exploded.

Batteries of this type have special controllers that save the battery from being overcharged or completely discharged, since both of these factors can destroy the battery. Most Samsung smartphones also have a fast charge function, which was achieved by increasing the voltage rather than the current.

For some reason, the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones did not have the same controllers, and the new smaller battery design affected the proximity of the positive and negative electrodes.

The following happened: the phone was completely discharged (which already had a detrimental effect on the battery itself), and then it received a shock dose of charging current (accelerated charging). As a result, overheating occurred, the pressure in the battery case increased, which led to an explosion.

Warning: pocket menace!

Since lithium burns at a temperature of 1336 degrees Celsius (chemist’s reference book), one can imagine what such an explosion could transform a room and a person standing next to. But it should be noted that similar explosions (of course in smaller numbers) have previously occurred with devices from other companies.

It is necessary to take into account not only the convenience, but also the danger of lithium batteries, the controllers of which can “fail” at any time. That is why equipment manufacturers advise charging phones and laptops only in personal presence, to eliminate the possibility of a fire in the room due to spontaneous combustion, and never charging devices while sleeping.

Loss of reputation

After the announcement of the termination of production of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung shares fell by 8%, and on October twelfth they fell by another 3%. During these two days, the company lost about 20 billion dollars.

Chasing competitors, the company was unable to make its device safe. It’s comical, but the press release of the new flagship, in addition to improving the display graphics and other pleasant bonuses, also talked about the increased security of the smartphone. Losing the trust of its customers will lead to irreversible consequences for the company. And Samsung executives are no longer concerned about the race for leadership with Apple or Google, but about returning to their previous position and stopping the stock from falling.

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Results of high-speed computed tomography of a lithium-ion battery cell 15 seconds before the accident (top) and 1 second before the accident (bottom). Source: scientific article "In-operando high-speed tomography of lithium-ion batteries during thermal runaway", Nature Communications 6, Article number: 6924 (2015), doi:10.1038/ncomms7924 (open access)

In the second half of August, real hysteria began in the media after cases of spontaneous combustion of Galaxy Note 7 phones.

Owners of any electrical appliances know that batteries Always heat up during intensive use. This is a completely natural property of batteries. At the same time, the engineer will tell you that any A device containing a lithium-ion battery may explode if used under certain conditions. An overheated lithium-ion battery creates something of a chain reaction that can lead to an explosion, according to high-speed X-ray computed tomography and x-ray imaging of lithium-ion batteries. This applies not only to phones, but to any gadgets in general. The designers' task is to implement safety measures that minimize the likelihood of fire, although it is impossible to reduce it to zero.

In practice, such explosions of Li-Ion batteries are rare, but they occur regularly. According to official statistics from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, since 2002 there have been 43 recalls of products from the market due to defective lithium-ion batteries. The Galaxy Note 7 story is not some extraordinary story at all, but a completely ordinary technical problem.

As in the case of the notorious suicides at the Foxconn plant, the law of large numbers applies here. Remember what it was like at Foxconn factories, allegedly because of poor working conditions? From January to May 2010, 10 suicides occurred at the Foxconn plant in Taiwan. There was a buzz that poor Chinese were sacrificing their lives to assemble iPhone and iPad equipment. They say that working 12 hours a day for $150 a month is unbearable, people can’t stand it and commit suicide.

But everything looks completely different if you look at the numbers. Namely, that at the Taiwanese “factory” of Foxconn, which is the world’s largest factory for the production of computer components, there were 330,000 people. The average suicide rate among Chinese is 14 per 100,000 people per year. Although people aged 65+ commit suicide much more often than younger people, we can therefore estimate the normal suicide rate among young people at approximately 10 per 100,000 people per year. Thus, over the past 147 days since the beginning of the year, (330,000/100,000) * 10 * 147/365 = 13.3 deaths should have occurred there. But in reality only 10 occurred, which is significantly below average.

That's all the explanation.

However, public opinion is difficult to succumb to logical arguments, so Foxconn chose not to argue, but to stop the conflict, increase wages and improve working conditions, and later announced a deal.

So what's the problem? Who is behind this hysteria with “massive” explosions of Samsung smartphones?

First, let's look at the general background when stories began to be thrown into the media. That same Galaxy Note 7, immediately after its release, was considered the best Samsung smartphone in the entire history of the company. Some called him absolutely the best smartphone On the market.

And then suddenly - a story with explosions, after which the company was forced to announce a large-scale recall of smartphones, stopping the production of Note 7 smartphones, and stopping sales. The Note 7 brand is finally buried. The “best in the world” smartphone is leaving the market forever. A complete fiasco. Absolute victory for the “unknown” enemy.

Let us immediately note that Samsung’s actions were only partly forced. They can be called “overreactions”, which risk managers recommend using in order to completely and accurately mitigate potential risks. As in the case of Foxconn, it is better to stop fighting and give up immediately than to spend years correcting the consequences of damage to the brand, especially since this damage may be irreparable. If the situation is not corrected quickly and radically, then the enemy will win not a small victory in a local battle, but a big victory in a global battle. In this case, the Samsung brand may forever be labeled as “manufacturer of exploding phones.” Over the next few years, this could lead to a significant loss of market share, a decrease in sales, and in the longer term, even to a complete abandonment of the company from producing smartphones. To ensure that this does not happen, Korean risk managers stopped the problem by giving away only “one city,” that is, the Note 7 brand alone.

Purely mathematically, it is better to be guaranteed to lose a couple of billion dollars than to have a ten percent chance of a hundred times greater losses.

In the Galaxy Note 7 model, the company has reduced the size of the smartphone and increased the battery capacity. It was obvious that this was a rather risky step.

The increased risk due to a decrease in volume and the law of large numbers still did not work in favor of the Korean corporation. Although 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s were sold, several dozen cases of battery fires attracted very close media attention.

Apparently, Samsung has still not figured out the exact cause of the fire in smartphones even after installing batteries from another manufacturer in them.

Who benefits from striking Samsung by stirring up a scandal? Just look at the statistics of smartphone sales in the world immediately before the release of the Galaxy Note 7.

Company	Sales, Q1 2016 (thousands)	Market share, Q1 2016	Sales, Q1 2015 (thousands)	Market share, Q1 2015
Samsung	81 186,9	23,2%	81 122,8	24,1%
Apple	51 629,5	14,8%	60 177,2	17,9%
Huawei	28 861,0	8,3%	18 111,1	5,4%
Oppo	16 112,6	4,6%	6 585,1	2,0%
Xiaomi	15 048,0	4,3%	14 740,2	4,4%
Other	156 413,4	44,8%	155 561,4	46,3%
Total	349 251,4	100,0%	336 297,8	100,0%

As you can see, quite unpleasant things are happening on the market for one American company with a fruit name. The first place by a large margin was secured by... guess who. That's right, Samsung. In second place is Apple, which is quite far behind. To make matters worse for the Apple company, the gap with Samsung has widened significantly over the past year. Apple sales for the year decreased from 60.2 to 51.6 million units. And this is on growing market!

What can I say, the story of the Samsung explosions could not have come at a better time.

Last August, passengers traveling on various airlines first heard an unusual announcement at the airport. It applied to all passengers and consisted of a ban on taking Samsung smartphones on board the plane. This was due to events that occurred repeatedly after the release of a new smartphone model. Users who purchased the new model reported that their new smartphones exploded while charging.

In this regard, Samsung initially announced a delay in production, but soon, when more and more statements about the explosion began to appear, it announced the cessation of production of this model and the recall of gadgets. Many began to wonder: what kind of phone explodes on an airplane? Of course, it is far from certain that a smartphone (more precisely, its battery) will explode during the flight. However, the model Samsung Galaxy Note 7 this probability is many times higher due to an error made by the developers of this gadget.

Just 30 days after the appearance of this gadget on sale, more than 33 cases of phone explosions were recorded. Each of these incidents led to different consequences. In some cases, only the gadget itself was damaged. And, for example, an explosion in the USA ended with the owner of the gadget burning down not only his smartphone, but also his car.

According to statements by air carriers, who on their own initiative introduced such a rule, the ban was not agreed upon with the aviation authorities. However, the air carrier must first of all take care of the safety of passengers and crew during the flight, and therefore this measure was simply necessary to eliminate the possibility of a gadget explosion and, as a possible consequence, a plane crash.

Carriers have banned flying with such gadgets:

• Aeroflot;
• Lufthansa;
• AirAsia;
• Air France;
• Singapore Airlines and others.

The smartphone recall affected 10 states. By the time production ceased, the manufacturer had already delivered 2.5 million smartphones of the new model. Only after this the gadgets were recalled. All users who ordered a prepaid phone were given the right to get their money back. Today there is an official ban on transporting the new model of Samsung smartphones. The ban has been confirmed by the FAA and IATA. Therefore, almost every air carrier today notifies passengers before the flight that they cannot carry this gadget.

The ban does not mean that you will have to leave your smartphone at the airport. He will be able to fly with you on the same plane in his luggage. However, this gadget cannot be turned on on board, and it is also prohibited to try to charge the smartphone during the flight.

Even if you have a smartphone of the same model, but a later version, without a defective battery, the airline will still not allow you to bring such a device on board. Carriers will not be able to determine whether a given gadget is safe. Therefore, in any case, the ban will remain in effect for quite a long time for the safety of passengers and crew.

Burnt smartphone

When a lithium-ion battery explodes, it burns at a very high temperature - more than 1300 degrees. This is especially dangerous on board an aircraft because the aluminum can melt. Knowing which phone is not allowed on the plane, it is also worth knowing that for the same reason, for safety reasons during the flight, some carriers do not allow passengers to carry high-capacity lithium-ion batteries in luggage (for example, batteries for hoverboards, unicycles, etc. .). Chinese airlines prohibit carrying any batteries on board. This ban was established for the same reason: the risk of a battery explosion, which could lead to a plane crash.

Samsung Galaxy Explosion

Last year, there was a case where a smartphone exploded during a flight on an airplane. It was a Galaxy Note 2 model. Previously, such cases have not been recorded with this phone model. The incident occurred during a flight from Singapore to Chennai on board an airliner owned by the airline IndiGo. At some point, passengers heard a sound resembling a clap. After this, smoke began to leak from one of the carry-on luggage compartments. It is unknown what measures were taken by the crew. However, they did everything in such a way that the plane landed safely and none of the passengers were injured.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 defect

This new smartphone model has a defect in the battery. First, for some unknown reason, the charging controller fails. After this, the battery receives too much charging current, which causes the battery to overheat. Because of this, a chain reaction starts. The electrolyte boils, gas is released, and pressure increases inside the sealed battery case (many times in a matter of seconds). As a result, the battery casing explodes and hot gas escapes. After the explosions, those who investigated the cause of the incident did not find a built-in controller in the battery.

We are all in danger, each of us contains portable bombs at home (in our pockets, at work) that can cause serious harm, even death. It’s all about the dangerous assembly technology, which has become a standard for the whole world and does not frighten society at all.

Li-ion battery

Today we all use a lot of different devices and technical innovations powered by lithium-ion batteries. This is a type of electric battery that differs from other similar energy carriers in its versatility, high energy density and ease of maintenance.

Despite their positive characteristics, such batteries pose a certain threat. Batteries of this type can explode, damage or destroy property and, worse, cause serious harm to health or even death.

Nevertheless, lithium-ion batteries are widely used in various areas of human life. This type of energy carrier can be found in cars, airplanes, and most importantly, in smartphones and tablets, which the majority of people use every day, on an ongoing basis. Roughly speaking, as mentioned above, all modern society carries with them which can be activated in case of an oversight, an unfortunate accident or due to the negligence of the manufacturer.

Possible causes of battery explosion

Lithium batteries have been tested over time and are considered relatively safe if you follow all the manufacturer's recommendations, but how often does anyone even bother to read the instructions? Any violation can lead to dire consequences. For example, a sudden change in temperature, which is one of the most common reasons why batteries fail. In this case, the lithium-ion battery begins to produce gas, the battery becomes significantly plumper, and in rare cases a leak can be detected. Both symptoms are a reason to immediately stop using the device, disconnect the battery and properly dispose of it. In addition to changing thermal conditions, there are a number of other common causes of battery explosion that are worth focusing on.

Physical impact and handicraft repairs

Any damage, bending or impact may cause the battery to become overheated, causing an explosion. The same goes for punctures that often accompany repair work.

“Jacks of all trades” often resort to repairing anything and everything without turning to professionals for help. Maybe new experiences are great, people develop their skills and save money, but when it comes to lithium batteries, you should forget about your “skill” because you can't disassemble and repair lithium-ion batteries. The same applies to small “tents” located in shopping centers and responsible for repairing various types of electronics.

Overdischarge and wear

As ironic as it may sound, even if a lithium-ion battery is left alone, it is still dangerous because it can use up a critical mass of charge. Usually in such cases the battery simply fails and stops functioning, but human stupidity and courage has no limits. Many attempts have been recorded to bring a completely dead battery back to life simply by putting it on charge (with or without a functioning device). In both cases, the battery can short out, instantly heat up to combustion temperature and ignite.

Just as an old cabinet can fall apart at any moment, an old battery can overheat. As it is used, it wears out, loses volume, and certain parts become damaged. There will come a time when physical changes to the battery will require replacement.

Galaxy Note 7 scandal

The most global battery collapse (in the mobile device market) occurred in 2016, along with the release of a smartphone from Samsung. Until the now iconic date, a phone battery exploding was perceived as a rare, unlikely accident. In the summer of 2016, when the media reported more than 35 cases of explosions of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones within a week, everything changed.

Note 7, by the way, was received very positively, the device pleased absolutely everyone, but, trying to overtake its competitors, Samsung miscalculated and seriously set itself up. By early September, official representatives of the Korean company announced that they were launching a global campaign to return defective gadgets. They offered to exchange the phones for the same model, but supposedly from a new batch. Less than a couple of days later, the situation repeated itself on a new scale. People began to turn to Samsung even more often, cars began to burn, property began to deteriorate, people suffered, receiving serious burns. At a certain point, the Koreans backed down, deciding to stop selling and assembling the phone.

Causes of problems with Galaxy Note 7

More than six months later, as of January 2017, the company did not give any clear comments about the incident. Many analysts and people familiar with the company's activities say that the company's engineers are unable to reproduce the explosion in the laboratory.

Independent organizations are inclined to believe that the explosion occurs due to problems with the power controller. The complex (dense) design of the smartphone, including a curved display, caused contact between two parts of the battery: the cathode and the anode, which, in turn, led to excessive heating. A lithium battery always tends to rise in temperature, this is normal, but the manufacturer should have taken care that at a certain moment the smartphone would be deprived of power. Unfortunately, it did not happen. And, no matter how careful users were with their Samsung, battery explosion has become a widespread problem affecting everyone without exception.

Consequences for the company

To understand how such an incident turned out for the company, it is enough to put yourself in their place. What will the consumer think about a product that has suddenly become a laughing stock and a threat to life? Most likely, he will avoid it. But one thing is a reputation that is there today, gone tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow there again; real facts are another thing. The company suffered losses, quite serious and significant for the mobile division - $22 billion. Phones were remotely prevented from charging to avoid further explosions.

At the moment, the phone is not being produced, the company is conducting an investigation and we can only hope that the explosion of the Samsung Note 7 battery will serve the Koreans as a lesson that will make them stronger.

iPhone explosion cases

Despite its special position in the smartphone market and the minimum level of defects, even an Apple smartphone can turn into an improvised bomb. One of the most recent cases was the explosion of a new product from Apple, the iPhone 7 smartphone, which one of the fans allegedly ordered on the Internet, but received an already blown up gadget.

There was no confirmation regarding the spontaneous combustion of the iPhone, and this incident was written off as the usual fanning of rumors. Fortunately for owners of new smartphones from California, the iPhone battery explosion was just one of the few caused by improper use (in this case, excessive physical impact), and not a widespread problem.

Other reported cases of iPhone explosions were the result of a short circuit caused by a third-party device.

How to avoid an explosion?

The simplest thing any user can do is to look at the instructions at least once in their life and find out how dangerous the battery in a smartphone is and what kind of care it requires.

You should always strictly observe the temperature regime and do not leave your smartphone in direct sunlight for too long. You cannot independently remove the battery in smartphones where this option is not provided by the manufacturer (we are talking about gadgets with a monolithic body).

Give preference to devices that have at least some name, time-tested, and avoid impulsively purchasing the most “top” new products.

The main thing is to understand that an explosion of a lithium battery is real and very dangerous; if possible, do not leave gadgets charging unattended, who knows at what point the technology will fail and a fire will occur.

What's next?

Now in terms of technology, this is the cheapest, yet most energy-efficient option for mobile devices and other electronics. Naturally, this type of battery is still a priority.

Lithium batteries may be replaced. Despite their terrible name, this type of battery is completely harmless to humans, and will allow the gadget to live on a single charge many times longer than now. Unfortunately, development in this area is happening rather slowly and progress should not be expected in the near future. Perhaps the explosion of the Samsung Note 7 battery will not be in vain and will force engineers working in the field of information technology to hurry up.