Samsung’s swelling smartphone batteries
Just a few years ago, the industry media was alive with the topic of exploding batteries in Samsung Note 7. The issue effectively damaged the reputation of the Korean manufacturer, which is now very popular with customers again, and the “problem batteries” seemed to go away.
However, it turns out that black clouds are once again looming over Samsung and – who would have expected it – again caused by batteries. The matter was brought to life by Arun Rupesh Maini, known on YouTube for his multi-million dollar channel Mrwhosetheboss.
A maker in his sizable collection of smartphones some time ago noticed that the battery was drained in three of them. Yes, each of them was a Samsung. After contacting the manufacturer, all the devices were taken back “to verify what caused the problem”.
Behaviour, of course, is commendable – this is how departments responsible for the service of smartphones should act. Unfortunately, the same can not be said about the further communication with the YouTuber, which actually did not exist – Samsung did not get back to the creator with any response.
Do you have a Samsung? Keep an eye on its battery, because even an S20 FE that’s a few years old can have a problem with battery swelling.
The worst thing about the whole story is that after a few days in Arun’s collection, the battery swelled up in a further three Samsungs, and the process was just beginning in the fourth. The YouTuber contacted other creators (including MKBHD and JerryRigEverything) collecting smartphones, who confirmed that the identical problem was occurring in some of them.
Why do Samsung batteries swell and will the manufacturer do something about it?
The problem of swelling batteries is not exclusively the domain of Samsung. Back in 2020, a similar “mishap” scored Google itself in its Pixel 5. Nevertheless, it is Samsung that seems to have the most experience in this issue. So is the manufacturer going to change something in its technology to minimize the undesirable effects on the battery as much as possible? At this point, the company has not issued any statement that addresses this issue.
Samsung can be defended, however, if only because battery swelling is, in a sense, a natural process occurring in lithium-ion batteries. It is due to the transition of the liquid form responsible for storing the charge into a gaseous form – then there is an expansion of the battery, which at some stage causes damage to the back of the smartphone case.
On the other hand, however, since Samsung is the most frequently cited company in the context of swelling smartphone batteries – this allows us to conclude that the problem may lie deeper than the battery specs themselves – and that may involve major engineering changes.
How will the case develop? We will keep you posted on this. In the meantime, check your smartphone batteries (perhaps those lying somewhere in the closet).
