Influential technology content creator and YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss rattled the community recently when he posted a video of issues with Samsung Batteries issue that might lead to exploding. This has caused massive concern for those who use, collect, or even have old Samsung smartphones at home, due to past incidents with the company. Here’s the summary of the scoop.
As a technology content creator, Mrwhosetheboss receives and gets to keep hundreds of devices in his storage area. As such, he’s repurposed one of the sections in his space to hold not one, not two, but all the review units he gets to keep. Regardless of brand, price point, type, and other determining factors, all his smartphones are kept here until he feels the need to use them again for a piece of content.
He was about to make a video on the history of each brand’s flagship devices when he noticed that his Galaxy Note 8 from 2017 was “blown up” with its back panel cracked and the battery ballooned to a considerable extent. Keep in mind that this phone’s back was never meant to be removable, so for it to pop off requires a significant amount of force.
After noticing that his Samsung Galaxy S6 and S10 also had similar issues, he decided to check his entire lineup of devices to see if there were others with similar swelling issues. After looking through what could possibly be hundreds of smartphones, he found even more of his devices with ballooned back plates, and all of them were from a single company. What’s worse here is that some of them are as young as 2 years old, with examples like the Galaxy S20 FE and the Z Fold 2.
His precious one-of-a-kind Samsung device also succumbed to this battery swelling fiasco. Shockingly, no other brand device experienced this. What’s strange here is that they’re all kept at room temperature 24/7, in the same conditions.
He also explained that all of these barely see any use outside of the two to three-week testing period then very occasionally for long-term content. Considering the number of smartphones this creator has, it would be strange for him to stick to a certain portion of devices or to even come close to overusing them. So the question arises: what more with a device that sees regular use in the long term, for the average person who doesn’t have a lot of devices at his disposal?
Batteries normally have a five-year effective life that they’re expected to work flawlessly and degrade naturally for. However, these Samsung battery swelling issues have occurred within this period, with some not even crossing halfway. It is a worrying concern due to the fact that according to iFixit, this is a clear fire hazard that requires the attention of professionals on the scene. This could lead to several Samsung batteries exploding, an obvious risk for consumers worldwide.
What even causes swelling? As batteries age, the internal chemical reactions that allow their operation no longer work optimally. As such, gases escape in a process called outgassing which can puncture compartments and membranes inside the cell, causing it to ignite when in contact with a flammable.
This isn’t the first time Samsung has gone under fire for battery or swelling issues. The Galaxy Note 7 was a brilliant phone, but it made just as big an explosion onto the scene as it did in your pocket. This immediately prompted a recall, wherein the company worked very hard to re-release the device with a safer battery and prove that their renewed battery testing capability was up to par. The company’s marketing team worked very hard to try to sweep the issue under the rug and just move on with its operations.
We’ve asked for comments from Samsung PR, but as of now it seems like the Regional HQ team is scrambling to release a statement immediately. This likelihood of Samsung batteries exploding is definitely a global issue that has to be monitored as there are millions of Samsung devices in the wild right now. We’ll keep you posted on further developments.
