Samsung has voluntarily offered to replace all those Galaxy Note 7 units shipped with defective batteries, after a battery cell issue resulted in battery explosions across more than 35 Note 7 devices since the handset launch on 19 August.
The South Korean company has explained the reason for the unexpected battery explosions on the Note 7 in its recent announcement following exhaustive investigation procedures regarding the battery cell issue. The issue was reportedly leading to battery-overheating problems when the anode and cathode terminals came into direct contact with each other and the whole mess is apparently linked to a rare manufacturing error.
According to SamMobile, 17 cases of battery explosion with the Note 7 have been reported in Korea, another 17 from the US, and just one such incidence in Taiwan as of 1 September. It is ascertained that these smartphones with faulty battery units were procured from Samsung's own battery making plant, the Samsung SDI.
Samsung has assured its loyal customers that it is jointly working with multiple component suppliers to find a solution for the widespread battery issues with the Note 7.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Australia has revealed a smart trick to identify the faulty units from the new replacement units. The company has marked the retail box of the newer replacement units with identifiers depicting a small black square on the white barcode label, besides a white sticker with a blue letter 'S'.
Note 7 users can also verify the IMEI number of the device to confirm if it is a replacement unit or a faulty one that has been recalled by the company, using the online IMEI database created by Samsung Australia. Customers in China and Hong Kong already have access to one such identification database to filter out the faulty ones from the replacement units with safe batteries that don't explode.
The company has earmarked a deadline of two weeks to start shipping out the replacement stock for Note 7 units with faulty batteries across the globe.
