After Samsung released Note 7 on 19 August 2016, at least 35 cases of explosion had been reported within a month since 24 August. According to the CPSC, Samsung has 'received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the US, including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage, including fires in cars and a garage'. As of 1 September, Samsung has only acknowledged 35 of these reported incidents. Samsung immediately reacted and recalled about 2.5 million Note 7 on 2 September, around 2 weeks after the release. However, the explosion still happened and Samsung has to decide the prohibition of usage of Note 7 on 9 December. The explosion has been finally issued by the battery manufacturers in the middle of January 2017. It heats up the (flammable!) liquid electrolyte at that spot. And if the liquid heats up quickly enough, the battery can explode.
Korean press Economics Daily reported that 70% of the battery was produced by SDI, a derived company of Samsung, and it should probably take the whole responsibility of the explosion. Samsung claimed that they did not thoroughly inspect the new technology of the battery, which is considered to be against their very priority as a technological company to keep safety of their products. As the parts of phones are produced by different third-party companies, even though the safety problems are not as severe as in components themselves, the phones as a whole can possibly cause huge safety uncertainty. And as an advanced firm Samsung did not manage to make their products satisfy the expectation of customers. Although Samsung addressed the problem to be the battery suppliers’, it should improve their coordination with its suppliers and try to avoid similar things to happen.
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Samsung’s quick reaction towards this issue, however, might cause some crisis again. After Samsung Electronics halted production of its high-end smart mobile, the Galaxy Note 7, it posted a statement on its website telling owners of the phone to power it down immediately and contact the outlet they bought it from to obtain a refund or an exchange. But for people to see those words, they had to click a link at the top of Samsung’s home page with the not-so-urgent label “Updated Consumer Guidance for the Galaxy Note 7.” For some who work in crisis management, it was a baffling and overly passive way for the South Korean electronics giant to deal with a prominent problem that has worsened in the last month. “That ought to be more visible — this is pretty serious,” Andrew Gilman, the chief executive of the crisis communications firm CommCore Consulting Group, said of the warning on Samsung’s home page.
The brand has “to show they care and are concerned” through consistent communication on their home page, Twitter, Facebook and other social channels, he said. It seems that Samsung was meant to somehow try to get rid of the relations of the the affair and was not willing to take the responsibility. Compared with trying to reduce the incidents, Samsung seems to prefer to keep the explosion news less influenced and affecting their sales, which is considered lack of responsible reaction towards safety.
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