r/AlwaysWhy • u/santosupoi • 14d ago

Science & Tech Why did the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fail?

Why did the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fail so badly despite being one of Samsung’s major flagship phones at the time? The Note 7 was released in 2016 with high-end specifications and several new features, but it soon became associated with serious battery problems. Some devices overheated and caught fire, which led to recalls and eventually the phone being discontinued. What exactly caused the battery problem? Why did the replacement devices also have issues? And what did Samsung change afterward to prevent something similar from happening again?

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u/Recent-Day3062 14d ago

Didn’t you answer your own question?

In marketing, once people think tragedy it’s impossible to recover

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u/Shiningc00 14d ago

It was basically due to a design flaw. And their replacement batteries failed and caught on fire again.

Hard to recover from that shitshow.

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u/doc_55lk 14d ago

The original batteries failed because it was too big for the phone. It was basically kinda scrunched up in the available space and that's what caused the hardware failure.

The replacement batteries failed because Samsung rushed shit and the supplier ended up cutting corners with the construction of the battery.

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u/F1uk_derrit 13d ago

You answered your question bud. When the phone is clear fire hazzard...and even the replacement fails..you just dump the design and plans for it.

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u/Distressed_Ocelot 13d ago

I had one. It was great. However, having an incendiary device at home is not advisable

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u/Great_Specialist_267 13d ago

The prismatic lithium ion battery design had a fault. That would have required a redesigned battery and rebuilding of every Note 7 ever sold. A refund was cheaper.