The prestigious Wall Street Journal published a report yesterday indicating that Samsung may have made a big mistake in its initial recall of 2.5 million Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices due to explosions caused by some of its terminals.
According to them, there was no conclusive evidence that the batteries produced by Samsung's SDI division were responsible for the Galaxy Note 7 exploding, as they stated in the recall announcement.
The problem could not be with the battery, but with the design
Apparently, Samsung executives subjected various models to several tests, including X-rays , and found that some Galaxy Note 7 batteries protruded slightly from the device's casing. Models using ATL batteries, manufactured in China, did not have this problem.
The problem is that 30% of the initial Galaxy Note 7 units used ATL batteries, so they assumed that was the source of the problem. This was a serious mistake, as it seems the issue isn't with the battery, as evidenced by the second wave of explosions that affected replacement models.
All these new units used ATL batteries, and the problem persisted, so it was clear that this wasn't the issue causing the Galaxy Note 7 explosions. Now, it seems to point to a defect in the circuit board or a software glitch that controls how the battery interacts with other components. There's even talk of the battery being fitted into a space that's too small.
The problem is that Samsung doesn't want to make any more mistakes and, above all, doesn't want its next flagship phone to go through a similar controversy, so they are thoroughly reviewing the Note 7 in search of a flaw, and this has forced a two-week delay in the development of the Galaxy S8.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to be unveiled at MWC, so if the biggest mobile phone trade show kicks off on February 27th, the Galaxy S8 is expected to be presented on February 26th. However, the manufacturer will need to work quickly if it wants to be ready for MWC 2017.