South Korean-based smartphone manufacturers last year in September initially announced a recall of 2.5 million Note 7 smartphones and identified the cause of the fire as a manufacturing process problem at one of its suppliers. This forced the company to permanently halt sales of the device for good and dealing a $5.2 billion blow to Samsung’s operating profit over three quarters.
On Monday, a person familiar with the on-going investigation of the problem told Reuters, that the battery was the main reason for some Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to catch fire.
Investors and analysts say it is critical for Samsung to provide a convincing and detailed explanation about what went wrong with the Note 7 and how it will prevent such problems from recurring if it is to regain consumer trust. The results of the investigation will likely be announced on January 23rd.
Koh Dong-jin, head of Samsung’s mobile business, will likely announce the results as well as new measures the firm is taking to prevent similar problems in future devices, the person said.
The source told Reuters on Monday that Samsung was able to replicate the fires during its investigation and that the cause for the fires could not be explained by hardware design or software-related matters.[related-posts]
