Story by Connor Wangrycht, Contributing writer
Murray State students who have purchased Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 could potentially suffer some adverse effects from charging its battery.
Samsung confirmed that as of Sept. 1 there have been 35 incidents around the world in which the new note model caught fire upon being plugged in.
The phone, which includes new features for the product line such as water resistance and a revolutionary iris scanner, was, according to Samsung, subject to a manufacturing fault that left approximately 24 out of a million of the production units with a faulty part.
The problem lies within the phone’s compact lithium-ion battery, as Samsung’s quality control identified a small glitch that made the battery’s “management system” unreliable. These engineers predicted that instead of cutting the supply of electricity to the battery when it reaches its maximum charge, the casing takes in excess and eventually causes the entire thing to smoke.
On Sept. 2, Samsung issued a recall for all two million of the new generation phones in a statement expressing sincere regret for such a tragic malfunction, along with a promise that replacement phones would be available within two weeks.
In regards to the huge financial burden such an endeavor brings to the company, Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics, stated that “I can’t comment on how much the cost will be, but it pains my heart to say such a big number.”
Koh went on to say that such expenses were brought on solely to benefit the consumer and to try to make amends for Samsung’s slip in quality.
Reports of a hazardous phone could not come at a worse time for Samsung, since Apple has revealed its new iPhone 7 at its physical launch event in San Francisco, as well as on its official Twitter.
Frida Petersen Albert, junior from Gavle, Sweden, said she was relieved that she purchased the iPhone 6 after her older Galaxy model switched off for the last time.
Albert said she learned about the Samsung malfunctions after she purchased her new iPhone, but the malfunction discourages her from ever switching back to Android products.
Albert said she learned about the dangerous devices when she received a call from her uncle who wanted to see which buying decision she had made.
“I wasn’t 100 percent sure about the Apple products and I might have changed my mind, but after finding out about [the] Samsung 7, I feel even more happy about my iPhone now,” Albert said.
Any students that hold this phone in their possession should err on the side of caution as per Samsung’s instructions. These instructions tell users to make sure to monitor the phone while it is on the charger, and if it becomes unreasonably warm, promptly unplug the device and contact the store from which it was purchased in order to start the recall process.
