Even though the percentage is vanishingly small, Samsung cannot be associated with exploding phones.
Even airlines warn against Samsung Note 7s specifically during preflight briefings. They're amputating part of their business to stop contagion to the rest of their brand.
There was a rash of exploding battery cells in the 2006-2007 era where Apple even issued a recall. At the time Apple was still using off-the-shelf cells and hadn't started to make their own batteries. This affected many other vendors using the same suppliers.
Even Boeing's planes were not immune to battery problems, with the 787 famously suffering some serious issues, including fires.
Battery technology is something that's very hard to get absolutely right, to render something safe enough it won't explode. You want a lot of "sigmas" in your quality to avoid any serious defects.
I don't know what Apple does to their batteries, but the sorts of abuse they can apparently endure without catching fire is remarkable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy5kAY5SqEk
>> iPhone 6 (/Plus) has exploded quite a few times actually (not pasting links here, a simple search shows many).
And the iPhone 7 too : http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/71958...
Most of the other phones are not exploding (other brands/Samsung's other phones) in significant numbers, so Note 7 is a one off case.
If it's a manufacturing problem, that's one thing, but I have a sneaking suspicion this could boil down to software. You can measure your manufacturing process very closely, but testing embedded software, such as in the battery itself, is a total nightmare by comparison.
I thought so too. I meant it's just been three explosions, or so I heard. However this article claims 97 incidents with breakdowns on overheating vs burning. It seems pretty significant. I mean, not statically against devices in the wild, but it takes a relatively few amount of safety incidents to question an entire product line.
Far more than 3. It's already more than 3 on the "replacement" "fixed" 7s -- it's dozens for the first version, including in planes, while driving, etc.
Because engineers are OK if "only" 1 in 100,000 devices explodes and hurts someone?
Remeber the flying coffin? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter#Saf...
It's still high enough to indicate a general manufacturing problem. To ditch it completely may mostly be a marketing decision but to put production on hold for some time to investigate and really fix the root cause seems to be reasonable. It may also help internal processes making sure that no additional item from a possible faulty batch ever gets sold accidentally. Maybe we will see a similar device in a few months, maybe branded differently, maybe with a redesigned casing, maybe some marketing campaign showing how well they've protected the battery this time.
One of the more comical attendees turned it into a joke, something like '... If you would like to stow your larger carry on, please come to the counter.... If you have a Samsung Galaxy 7, please place it in the garbage prior to entering the aircraft...'.
It was a crowded flight with a long line and already delayed. He was just trying to lighten up the atmosphere, and everyone did laugh, so it was clever.
For Samsung, this is a marketing nightmare for one their most profitable brands.
That's what I'd do, but then again I'm not a highly paid marketing executive.