Samsung, the world leader in mobile communications, on Tuesday announced the total suspension of the production of its latest model Galaxy Note 7, due to the risks of explosion of the batteries of the device, opening a crisis in this giant south Korean.
The decision comes after a series of fires of lithium ion batteries, used in devices ranging from laptops to airplanes, passing by smartphones.
These are some questions about the growing problems of security in the devices of Samsung, the withdrawal of the Note (Stockholm: NOTE.ST – news) 7, and the reasons why the batteries can catch fire.
How are the batteries and because it can catch fire?
The lithium ion batteries used by Samsung, which is produced by several other companies, including its subsidiary Samsung SDI (Other OTC: SSDIF – news) , are of the type rechargeable battery which uses a variety of materials, one with positive ions –the cathode– and the other with negative ions, the anode.
These ions move in one direction at the time of the load, and in reverse when unloaded, to be used.
These two layers, or conductors, must not be supposed to be in contact so the producers inserted separators to ensure that they remain watertight.
Unfortunately, the chemical reaction that allows you to operate the battery also creates heat. An overload of the engine –or a load too fast– can cause a fire.
What has happened with the battery of Samsung?
Samsung admits that some parts of the battery that should have never been in contact were due to “a very unusual error in the production process”.
The race to the best results to increase the autonomy of a battery, in a very competitive market, may lead to unexpected results.
“The makers of ‘smartphones’ in an attempt to reduce the size of these batteries to make them thinner,” explains Hideki Yasuda, analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo. “Because batteries generate power by a chemical reaction, it is difficult to reduce the risk (of ignition) to zero,” he adds.
how Has this happened before?
Yes. Have been produced for combustion in a variety of products such as laptops Sony Vaio, electric bicycles or even in components of the apparatus of Boeing Dreamliner jets.
what Is very extended a problem?
Every year we produce millions of lithium ion batteries, and the proportion of those that are defective is small.
In the case of Samsung, the manager of the telephone division of the group had assured in September that the percentage of defective products was 24 per million.
Samsung was forced to order the September 2, a called to review the global scale of 2.5 million units of the Note 7, after that some of these devices burn at the outbreak of the battery during charging.
This seemed to alleviate the crisis, but then it was revealed that the devices distributed to replace the defective had problems too.
“it is Not easy to determine in the moment if others (manufacturers) are having the same problem that Samsung,” says Yasuda. “If the suppliers of batteries are sold to other manufacturers, they may also be affected,” he adds.
How does the case to Samsung?
Due to this crisis, and the announcement of suspension of production and vental of the Note 7, the shares of Samsung fell this Tuesday, 8% on the stock exchange of Seoul.
in Addition, analysts estimate that this case could cost Samsung us $ 10 000 million or more.
The case concerns in addition to severely damaged the image of the brand, in a context of fierce competition at the same time with the iPhone of american Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL – news) and chinese phones for low price.
The crisis with the Note 7 also occurs at a critical time for the group, now in full transition generation of its leadership, whose ability to make good decisions is questioned.
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