An unidentified source has confirmed that a battery problem was at the heart of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fires. According to the person, the finalised report of the probe will be released on 23 January; ahead of Samsung Electronic’s fourth quarter results.
The battery of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was long to be suspected to be the problem plaguing the failed device. However, the theory suffered after a second batch of smartphones with new batteries also began to spontaneously combust. At the time, it was said that Samsung was also unable to replicate the problem in its own labs.
This latest report from Reuters now claims that Samsung has found a way to intentionally trigger the fire. The company has also narrowed down the problem to the battery as it cannot find an explanation from the hardware or software. Despite this, details are not yet available.
The source of the information has said that he is not authorised to speak with the media, which is why he chose to remain anonymous. Samsung itself has not commented on the matter, with the company preferring to remain silent until it is ready to release the results of the probe.
IDC analyst Bryan Ma informed Reuters that he does not believe that Samsung will end up pointing fingers at its suppliers. Which isn’t too surprising, considering that Note 7’s with batteries from two different suppliers suffered from the same issue.
If anything, we expect the report to be another apology from the electronics giant. Samsung has lost some 6.1 trillion Korean Won (about RM22 billion) in operating profit over the last three quarters, and its next financial report is not expected to be any different.
[Source: Reuters]
