Fire happens at one of the factories responsible for making the Samsung Galaxy Note7’s battery

Looks like bad press for the Samsung Galaxy Note7 is far from over. A fire broke out on Wednesday at one of the factories responsible for making the faulty batteries of the Galaxy Note7. The fire at Samsung SDI Co. in Tianjin, northern China happened at part of the facility where wasted materials were stored (these include faulty batteries). According to the local fire service who responded to the incident, the source of the fire was “lithium batteries inside the production works and some half-finished products.”

Samsung SDI spokesperson Shin Yong-doo tells Reuters the fire is minor and no casualties were reported. The factory is operating as normal without any impact on its production lines. As Apple Insider reports though, there were 110 firefighters and 19 trucks on the scene to put out the fire.

Samsung has new eight-step process for testing batteries

Samsung is looking to avoid the mishap of the Galaxy Note7 by introducing a new testing process as well as forming a battery advisory board. The latter will be comprised by academics from the likes of Cambridge, Berkeley, and Stanford. The former will be implemented for all lithium ion batteries in Samsung products.

The first three steps—durability, visual inspection, and X-ray—as well as open circuit voltage tests are already being conducted on batteries but now Samsung says the testing has been “enhanced” and will be done more frequently. As you see above, the other tests include charge and discharge tests, tests of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), disassembling tests, and accelerated usage tests. It’ll take some time for Samsung to win back the trusts of consumers but taking steps to make sure they do that is a step in the right direction.

Source: The Verge

Source claims battery was the main cause of Samsung Galaxy Note7 fires

It would seem the main cause of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 fires is the battery—at least according to a source familiar with the matter. Reuters reports that the results of the investigation will supposedly be released on January 23, which is a day before Samsung details its fourth-quarter earnings results. Reuters’ source on this matter isn’t authorized to speak publicly and so declined to be identified.

Samsung has supposedly been able to replicate the fires during the investigation and the cause of the fires can’t be explained by hardware design or software issues. The South Korean tech company will also reportedly speak about new measures it’ll take to avoid the product safety failures for future devices. According to investors and analysts, it’s important for Samsung to provide a detailed, convincing explanation on the Note7 problems and the steps it’ll take to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Samsung set to share this month the cause of Note7 fires

Battery were the first to blame when the Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices caught on fire. But as some independent studies have pointed out, that isn’t the full truth. When Samsung killed off the phablet, it set to investigate the cause behind the fires. And now Samsung is close to revealing its findings by the middle of this month. According to sources cited by the Korean Herald, Samsung enlisted the help of US-based, safety science company Underwriter Laboratories. There is also a separate investigation being conducted by the state-owned Korea Testing Laboratory.

Finding out what really happened with the Note7 can help Samsung from avoiding a repeat of the disaster and, at the same time, assuage worries of investors in the company. No final word yet when Samsung plans to reveal the findings but an official statement should be released soon.

Source: Android Authority