Battery maker ATL was quick to conduct an investigation of its own after two Galaxy Note 7 devices reportedly caught fire in China. The investigation has revealed the cause of damage as something external and not the result of a faulty battery.
Samsung uses ATL’s batteries for Note 7 devices sold in China
Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) released a statement on Monday that said it conducted a joint investigation with Samsung and dismissed the widespread production error as the cause of fire.
ATL said the burn marks on the sample indicated that the source of heating came from outside the battery. It could be that an external factor led to the fire.
An ATL official told Reuters that one of its batteries was in the Note 7 phone that reportedly caught fire and that the heating problem was caused by something other than the battery.
According to reports, two people posted accounts on Chinese social media saying their Galaxy Note 7 handsets exploded over the weekend. One of the users told The Associated Press the his Note 7 was bought on September 1 through the JD.com e-commerce site.
There were no cases of malfunctioning Note 7 batteries from China prior to this. It can also be noted that Samsung excluded China from its global Note 7 recall.
Samsung SDI supplied most of the Galaxy Note 7s with faulty batteries. For Note 7’s sold in China, Samsung used batteries made by Amperex Technology Ltd.
With the latest fiasco, Samsung has now decided to employ ATL batteries for replacement Note 7 devices, rather than the ones made by its SDI affiliate.
The South Korean company sold about 2.5 million units of Note 7 since the device was officially released in August. Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the US, including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage.
This week, the company began shipping new Note 7 phones to replace the defective ones.