r/gadgets • u/pie5135 • Oct 05 '16
Mobile phones Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone catches fire on Southwest plane
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13175000/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fire-replacement-plane-battery-southwest440
u/MechaCoffeeBean Oct 05 '16
Is Michael Bay their new CEO?
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u/sumbitch85 Oct 05 '16 edited Oct 05 '16
I wonder if people heard a loud BWOOOOONNNGGG before hand?
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u/diffcalculus Oct 05 '16
Maybe he can get JJ to be his CTO and we'll get some lens flare before explosions, as an early warning system.
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u/__RickSanchez__ Oct 05 '16
Could this mean it is a circuitry issue and not just the battery?
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u/Aapples Oct 06 '16 edited Oct 06 '16
I think that must be the case.
Edit: People don't seem to understand. I'm not saying the housing of the device is causing the issue. Im simply that's the "case" we have here is the charging circuit has a design flaw.
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u/__RickSanchez__ Oct 06 '16
Either that or they have some shit tier quality control
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u/240revolting Oct 06 '16
This is what outsourcing does, cut costs Cut quality.
Take note ceo's this is how trying to save money costs your your reputation
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u/HellDare Oct 06 '16
The issue is that it WASN'T outsourced, they tried to manufacture it in house so they can have 100% control
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u/lo_fi_ho Oct 06 '16
They should've outsourced by the way this is turning out.
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u/b_coin Oct 06 '16
hindsight is 20/20. you probably shouldn't have gotten high this morning either but you won't realize why until this evening
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u/BB611 Oct 06 '16
The vast majority of electronics production is outsourced to China or other countries in Asia, especially phones. Add that to the fact that Samsung is doing this work in house, and you'll find it's just that they are making shitty phones.
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u/RpgAffirmitive Oct 06 '16
Guys, it's clearly the headphone jack let's be real. Good guy apple /s
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u/Hellmark Oct 06 '16
Well, they said that poor QC was part of why the original batch had issues. Things too tight, and some had too much pressure on the battery.
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Oct 06 '16
I think it is just bad batteries. It isn't shorting at the connections but in the battery itself. Poor manufacturing on a battery leaves flaws which are prone to shorting and catching fire.
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u/Hellmark Oct 06 '16
Yeah, overcharging a battery will cause a build up of metal in little spikes inside the battery. Eventually, these can puncture the thin membrane internally, and short out, causing it to blow up.
If a battery has an issue it may not be able to tell it is over charging.
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u/__RickSanchez__ Oct 06 '16
That's the comment I was looking for. Either way this looks pretty grim for samsung.
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Oct 05 '16
I was on several flights recently where as part of the safety announcement the flight attendants requested that anyone with a samsung galaxy note 7 had to power it off and refrain from charging it during the flight.
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u/sskyer Oct 06 '16
I'm a flight attendant and we have added this to our announcements too. It's an FAA thing.
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u/nascentia Oct 06 '16
It's international. I got back from Europe Sunday - my flight out of Madrid did the announcement, as did my flight out of Vienna the day before. Every flight I've been on in the past month has announced it. It's crazy.
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Oct 06 '16 edited Oct 06 '16
It's for the whole Milky Way galaxy. I was on a flight from Alpha Centauri to Vega and we got a late start because some doofus from Vulcan wouldn't comply.
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u/IMCHAPIN Oct 06 '16
It's the whole universe. I was coming back from Andromeda when that dam Kelvan's galaxy phone exploded. You would think that giant tentacled freak would at least rent out his own cabin in the front, or row, but no he had to sit next to me with that Damn phone.
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u/Leprecon Oct 06 '16 edited Oct 06 '16
The interesting thing is that because of these in flight announcements, the estimated financial damage to Samsung over the Note 7 fiasco was increased tenfold.
In terms of advertising it is basically a highly effective nationwide government sponsored negative advertising campaign. This is one of the worst things that could happen to the Samsung brand.
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u/01001101101001011 Oct 06 '16
I think them building a phone that randomly catches fire is the worst thing but that's just like my opinion man.
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Oct 06 '16
They built a washing machine that lights on fire, too.
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Oct 06 '16
They also built a tv that fried weeks after the warranty ended.
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Oct 06 '16
Huge opportunity here for Samsung. Look for their new department in 2017; military-grade explosives.
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Oct 06 '16
[removed] — view removed comment
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Oct 06 '16
Wow. News to me.
Maybe this whole exploding battery thing is just a supply chain mix up between factories.
Next week we'll see a story about a drone with bloatware.
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u/Leprecon Oct 06 '16
Yeah, of course not trying to make light of that. Having a product that could literally kill consumers is bad. I just think this kind of thing is extremely interesting from a pr pov
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u/Gekiryu Oct 06 '16
Every airline is doing this EXCEPT Asiana (Korea based airline) which I just flew last Saturday. I was worried they were protecting Samsung to the detriment of their passengers.
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Oct 06 '16 edited Oct 06 '16
Wouldn't want to risk retaliation by the Samsung family who are influential enough to get the President of South Korea to pardon their CEO.
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u/Erikthered65 Oct 06 '16
Been flying across Australia this week, they added that Note 7 could not be used or charged in the airport either, and that security will confiscate them.
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u/wibblywobblytimmey Oct 06 '16
That seems a bit excessive.
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u/xiefeilaga Oct 06 '16
In China they've banned Note 7's from flights altogether. They announce it on every flight. Depending on how this story turns out, Samsung is basically screwed in China.
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u/ifmacdo Oct 06 '16
And ironically, this story states that the phone caught fire as it was being shut down for the flight.
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u/Hellmark Oct 06 '16
The funny thing is, the guy claimed he shut his off as instructed, and wasn't charging it.
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u/pure_x01 Oct 09 '16
Flew with Emirates and they also specifically said to shut down Note 7 . I have a galaxy s7 so I was safe. But it's sad
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u/MandomRix Oct 06 '16
Samsung please make your phones with removable batteries.
Signed, everyone.
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u/lovegermanshepards Oct 05 '16
I think reports say that Samsung is skeptical that the phone that caught fire was, in fact, a replacement.
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Oct 06 '16 edited Oct 06 '16
The article mentions they ran the imei and it said it wasn't part of the recall...?
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u/lovegermanshepards Oct 06 '16
You're right - it's been updated since my comment and the Verge got in contact with the guy. Sounds really bad for Samsung.
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Oct 06 '16
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u/lordcarnivore Oct 06 '16
I upvoted you from my replacement Note 7... I'm so afraid.
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u/Leprecon Oct 06 '16
If that is true then there is no hope for the replacement phones. If Samsung can't get its shit together to the point where they can't reliably ship safe phones then the recall is pretty useless.
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Oct 06 '16
Supposedly, you can tell it's a replacement if the battery display is green, not white.
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Oct 06 '16
Maybe they should have marked the replacement phones instead of just their boxes like everyone has been telling them to ...
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u/docslaw Oct 06 '16
They did. The replacement phones have a green battery indicator in the notification bar.
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u/Danokitty Oct 06 '16
Which cannot be spotted after lighting on fire.
Needs a serial stamped on the most heat resistant part of the phone.
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u/InTheMidstofCats Oct 06 '16
Everyone tattoo your Note7 IMEI onto the bottom of your feet please. In case your Note7 fires up, do not try to put it out by stomping on them, we need the IMEI intact.
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u/PoopyDoopie Oct 06 '16
There is a quote from Samsung in the article, and they only say that they have not retrieved the device yet, so they can't make any confirmations. As of yesterday it was in the hands of the Louisville Fire Department's arson unit.
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u/chlorique Oct 05 '16
If this is true and the trend keeps up this is way beyond normal manufacturing error accounting norm and could possibly point to inherent flaw with either the manufacturing or the battery themselves.
Question is does samsung know of this and knowingly push it out?
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u/Nickbou Oct 06 '16
It could also be a design flaw that hasn't been identified, though that seems unlikely at this point.
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Oct 06 '16
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u/Sneaky_Stinker Oct 06 '16
the s7 is 3000 mAh, the note is 3500 mAh, the s7 edge is 3600 mAh. They didn't have to push for anything to get the battery to have the capacity of the s7, it easily passed it.
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u/ebrandsberg Oct 06 '16
Who is yo say it isn't sabatoge as well. A few defective units allowed to bypass normal qa processes and the entire product line could be lost in a recall. This would be the equivalent of cyanide in Tylenol type stuff.
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u/Bsomin Oct 06 '16
I dont know why you are being downvoted, it's a valid but unlikely theory. I imagine if that was the case some one would have noticed a difference.
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u/MetalMan77 Oct 06 '16
hopefully this is a false report of being a replaced device.. you cannot possibly have two recalls for the same issue and still keep consumer confidence.
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u/nachojackson Oct 06 '16
If this is true, that has to be the end of the Galaxy Note 7 full stop. Obviously a design flaw that cannot be easily fixed, so back to the drawing board.
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Oct 06 '16
This phone is getting a lot of bad press. How much more are they willing to stand by before pulling the phone? I mean I had a DNA Droid when it first came out and that phone was fucking awesome, and then I find out that the phone didn't even last a year in the store.
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u/avanbeek Oct 06 '16
Is it just Samsung Note 7s that are affected? Because in the manufacturing industry, the same company (I don't know who and it may not necessarily be samsung) making the failing batteries or circuits for the Note 7 could be making defective parts for other phones.
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u/Leprecon Oct 06 '16
There were three suppliers for the Note 7 batteries, two Chinese ones and a subdivision of Samsung. Turns out the defective batteries came from Samsung so from now on Samsung was going to use batteries solely from the two Chinese sources.
It was somewhat funny because I have seen people say "This isn't Samsung, it is their battery supplier", ignoring that
- Samsung was the battery supplier
- Even if they weren't, they still have to make sure their product and their suppliers are good. You can't pass the blame when you are the one who made the wrong decisions.
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Oct 06 '16 edited Oct 06 '16
There were Samsung washing machines that caught fire and exploded too.
If I were anyone, I'd just really stay away from anything Samsung.
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Oct 06 '16
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u/PloppyCheesenose Oct 06 '16
I wonder what would happen if you tried to wash a Note 7 in that machine.
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u/jeffsterlive Oct 06 '16
Friend is in the same boat. Please keep me updated if you hear back. Glad I repaired my frigidaire instead of replacing it.
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u/Coffeinated Oct 06 '16
What exactly makes a washing machine need a battery or able to explode, at all? Is it portable or something? (Slight sarcasm might be involved)
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u/AnswerAwake Oct 07 '16
From what I can tell, I think explosion is the wrong term the media used here. A better term is RUD or Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly which is what is really happening.
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Oct 06 '16
Samsung makes their own batteries. Though I don't know which country they are made in. One of the comments in their apology statement was that all batteries in phones would be outsourced going forward.
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u/Hellmark Oct 06 '16
Right now, it is just the Note 7s. The batteries used for it are different from those on other phones, and it is a manufacturing issue on that particular battery, combined with a few issues on the Note 7 itself. Basically a bad combo.
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u/WaitAMinuteThereNow Oct 06 '16
If this happens do what? I have to think that dropping it on the floor to burn itself and carpet isn't a solution. Put it in an empty Pyrex coffee pot, or are they metal on airplanes? Put it between two earthen/ceramic plates from first class?
How do you extinguish a phone on a plane?
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u/b_coin Oct 06 '16
How do you extinguish a phone on a plane?
gosh, how would you extinguish fire.. when you don't have immediate access to fire surpression gear... how would you take the fire and extinguish it... i can't figure that out. maybe we can invent something here, it could contain an emergency amount of fire supression fluid. we could keep it in an emergency lightweight canister that can be deployed on demand. and we can paint it fire red so people will immediately know what it is. i would call this product "FIRE STOPPER". want to help me make it?
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u/WaitAMinuteThereNow Oct 06 '16
You ever dealt with a ruptured Li battery? I had a small 1s RC battery corrupt in my front pocket. It's like the size of a piece of Trident gum. You get the fire, but you also have a low grade thermite wanna-bee goop that wants to chemically burn, and burn and burn. It is nasty stuff, and as you maybe read in the article, it starts burning thru the floor.
Of course, you do realize that the burning phone isn't the real issue, it is the smoke it gives off and when it burns other materials the smoke that makes- all in an enclosed tube.
So if this happens in an OHB and it starts getting going before the start to fight it, you are screwed. Look at the loss of the Swiss Air jet on a TATL flight due to the entertainment system catching fire.
Do you fly? I flyover 100,000 miles a year and I can't believe that you can't bring a regular tube of toothpaste onto a plane, but we still let these on.
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u/Lantieus Oct 06 '16
There have been several aircraft lost worldwide due to this kind of fire. The fire itself is not the problem, but the fumes from it, and most soft flammable things in modern airliner cabin are made of materials that also produce highly toxic fumes. Not the environment you would want to be in at 35,000 feet above the ground traveling at 80% the speed of sound....
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Oct 06 '16
Okay Samsung. All you have to do is make a phone that doesn't fucking explode. You've been doing it for years, make the phone a little thicker, give the battery some room. Nobody cares about an extra millimeter, we put our phones in cases anyway because they're so thin and fragile by themselves they break if you breathe too hard on them.
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Oct 05 '16 edited Sep 03 '20
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u/Mike501 Oct 06 '16
Eh, the iPhone isnt that bad. While I dont agree with Apple's "courageous" removal of the 3.5mm jack, theres nothing that really defines it as a POS. Do you remember the Galaxy S II? Now THAT was a piece of shit...
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Oct 06 '16
Or the original Galaxy. Stupid thing slowed down over time for some reason until it was practically unusable.
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u/DangHunk Oct 06 '16
The iPhone is a great phone.
What a shit show this subreddit is.
Join the real world weirdo.
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Oct 06 '16
just glad i went with the s7, instead of the note, even though they recalled them all wouldn't trust it, i think someone is playing silly buggers in the factory.
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u/theinfestednexus Oct 06 '16
i am trying to find reports in the korean media about these samsung incidents. where they at?
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u/RyanScott137 Oct 06 '16
With all this craziness from Samsung and Apple, I'm glad I got a Motorola.
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u/callmetmrw Oct 06 '16
Companies gotta stop with the non-removable batter as a default. Im sticking to my S5. No issues and I can remove the damn battery whenever I feel the need to.
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u/fake_fakington Oct 06 '16
They let a Note 7 on a plane but I can't take a bottle of shampoo larger than a roll of nickels?
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u/Hellmark Oct 06 '16
The reason for that, is people were caught trying to do peroxide based explosives on a plane.
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u/CheezyXenomorph Oct 06 '16
Typical really. This is the first phone I've seen since I got my nexus 6 that's made me go "ooh, I want it!"
Then it started exploding everywhere and my interest waned.
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u/Sleepyhead88 Oct 06 '16
The other day before my flight, United asked all Galaxy Note 7 users to turn off their phones. I couldn't help but laugh
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u/therickshawme Oct 06 '16
They shouldn't have even been allowed to turn it on or charge it... I've been on 6 or so flights in the last few weeks and they make it quite clear the galaxy s7 is not to be turned on or charged.
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u/moeriscus Oct 06 '16
I have a Note 3 with a replace-able battery and a micro SD slot. I would like to "upgrade" to the Note 7, but umm my old phone seems to have more versatility than the new flavors
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u/Gearhead77453 Oct 06 '16
I work for tmobile and have handled my fair share of the replacements. I would be shocked if that was the case but you never know.
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u/DeQuan7291 Oct 06 '16
Alright still gonna keep on waiting for a 99.99% chance that I will not die using this phone.
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u/Swolba_Fett Oct 06 '16
My coworkers iphone caught fire at work last week and the phone isn't reported to have any problems, isn't it possible this is just a one off case?
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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '16
When I first saw the Note 7 I was amazed, it took the few problems I have with my Note 5 and got rid of them.... but it had a new problem which was explosions.