RUSH TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A DULL IPHONE STARTED SAMSUNG ' S BATTERY CRISIS
The Galaxy Note 7 and its stylus, the S Pen. Samsung has stopped buying batteries for the Note 7 from the SDI affiliate. founded in 1970 and 20 percent owned by Samsung Electronics, makes batteries for other phone-makers too, including Apple.
As the launch date approached, employees at Samsung and suppliers stretched their work hours and made do with less sleep. Though it’ s not unusual to have a scramble, suppliers were under more pressure than usual this time around and were pushed harder than by other customers, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. One supplier said it was particularly challenging to work with Samsung employees this time, as they repeatedly changed their minds about specs and work flow. Some Samsung workers began sleeping in the office to avoid time lost in commuting, the supplier said. Samsung declined to comment on whether deadlines were moved, reiterating that products are only introduced after proper testing.
Still, by August, it looked like Samsung had made it. The company shipped early models of the Note 7 to wireless operators around the world, including AT & T Inc. in the U. S. and Telstra Corp. in Australia. An executive at one carrier said his team started testing the device in May and had the typical amount of time to check its capabilities. They focused on antenna performance and data speeds and didn’ t uncover the battery problem, the executive said.
But when customers started using the phones, the fires began. The first signs of trouble emerged online, as they’ re wont to do in this age of social media. Photos and videos of charred phones were posted on the web.“ Hey YouTube,” said one man, as he described how his phone had burst into flame and showed off the blackened remains.“ Be careful out there. Everyone rockin’ the new Note 7, it might catch fire y’ all.” Executives at Samsung headquarters in Suwon were in shock. Choi, the co-vice chairman, gathered senior managers, demanding to know what went wrong, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. The phone division pointed fingers at battery maker Samsung SDI, while managers there argued the problem could be elsewhere, including in the phone design or insulation. Samsung said there is no ongoing debate on the issue and that the phone unit has taken responsibility.
Samsung’ s top managers knew they needed to move fast. Internally, there was a debate about whether to do a full-blown recall or to take less dramatic steps, like a battery replacement program. Then on Sept. 1, an engineer wrote on the company’ s internal online bulletin board.“ Please recall all Note7s and
SAMSUNG OPTED TO GIVE THE NOTE 7 A 3500 MILLIAMPERE HOUR BATTERY COMPARED WITH 3000 MAH FOR THE PREVIOUS MODEL
2016 | Business Times Africa 63