Samsung delivers post-mortem on Note 7 battery malfunctions

The Korean company has so far successfully recalled 96 per cent of the three million Note 7s sold, after numerous batteries burst into flames in the weeks following the smartphone’s release. The failures actually affected two different batteries with two different primary problems, both of which Samsung says have now been identified.

Battery A suffered from a flaw that meant the negative electrode was deflected in the upper right corner, allowing it to come into contact with the positive electrode. This was compounded by the tip of the negative electrode being located in the curve of the structure rather than the planar area.

Battery B’s primary problem was a high welding burr on the positive electrode that penetrated a layer of insulating tape and a separator to come into contact with the negative electrode. Samsung also discovered that some batteries were not actually equipped with insulation tape, exacerbating the design flaw.