Smartphone Investigation

[Anchor Lead]

Samsung Electronics has unveiled the results of its investigation into its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones catching fire. The electronics giant said that faulty batteries were the culprit, not the device itself or software.

[Pkg]

The investigation results issued by Samsung Electronics three months after the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone was discontinued pointed to a battery defect. Samsung said that the edges of the initial Samsung SDI batteries were depressed, causing damage to the separation film which then led to an abnormal current. Thepost-recall batteries supplied by Chinese manufacturer ATL also had damaged separation films. However, Samsung said that it will not hold the battery company legally responsible.

[Soundbite] Go Dong-jin(President of Wireless Division, Samsung Electronics) : "Researchers and engineers conducted tests on over 200,000 phones and 30,000 batteries for several months."

Samsung's conclusion is that there were no faults with the phone's waterproofing or dustproofing structures or its software, as previously suspected, and that the device itself demonstrated no abnormalities. Outside agencies reached a similar verdict.

[Soundbite] Kevin White(Chief scientist at "Exponent"/Independent Testing Agency)

Samsung also announced that its highly anticipated subsequent model, the Galaxy S8, will be unveiled later than in previous years. New models are typically presented at a February consumer electronics event in Spain, but more time is needed for a battery inspection procedure which has recently been newly expanded to consist of 8 stages.