Was The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Exploding Because Of Its 'Aggressive' Design - Not Its Battery?

Hardware experts at Instrumental, a manufacturing process innovation company based in Palo Alto, California, have heavily criticised Samsung for the Galaxy Note 7¡¯s design -- which they believe caused the infamous explosions of the doomed device throughout September 2016, eventually forcing the South Korean consumer electronics giant to pull the plug on the Galaxy Note 7 range in October 2016.

Courtesy of NBC News

In a damning report, the engineering team at Instrumental finds Samsung guilty of aggressive design standards deployed in the Galaxy Note 7, which made the device highly unstable and extremely susceptible to explosions.

After acquiring a non-exploded Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the engineering team at Instrumental proceeded to tear it down and study its internal components to try and guess the reason behind the Note 7¡¯s disastrous design. After looking at the design, Instrumental claimed, ¡°Samsung engineers were clearly trying to balance the risk of a super-aggressive manufacturing process to maximize capacity, while attempting to protect it internally.¡±

Instrumental teardown image explaining how there was no space around the Galaxy Note 7 battery

After the teardown, the Instrumental team realised the Samsung Galaxy Note 7¡¯s battery was so tightly packed inside its enclosure case that even the minutest battery expansion pressure, or stress on the phone¡¯s body itself, would inadvertently bring into contact two separate layers inside the battery that are never supposed to touch. If they ever touched, as was the case with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7¡¯s battery, unbearable heat and perpetual explosion would follow as an unavoidable consequence.

Specifically in terms of the Galaxy Note 7¡¯s design, the Instrumental hardware engineers further comment on the space above a battery inside any Li-ion powered device and the need for some breathing space between side-by-side components. The space between the battery and its adjacent component should approximately be at least 10% of the overall thickness of the device.

Going by this theory, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 should have had a 0.5mm breathing space between its battery and adjacent component. It had none. Zero. Zilch.

¡°It breaks such a basic rule, it must have been intentional,¡± says the Instrumental team, leaving no doubt in their minds that Samsung shipped a dangerous product on purpose. ¡°That this is possible at one of the top consumer electronic companies in the world is humbling¡±

If only Samsung hadn¡¯t aspired to build a crazily slim smartphone (or phablet, as is the case here) while compromising on consumer safety and security, all of this would¡¯ve been easily avoided.

An update to the Samsung Galaxy Note series, the Galaxy Note 8, is expected to release in early 2017, according to several reports.

We reached out to Samsung representatives for a counter point, and here's what they had to say:

¡°We are conducting a thorough investigation and will release the results as soon as they are finalised. We understand the need for answers, but do not wish to say anything prematurely and cannot comment on these reports. We appreciate the continued patience of our valued customers as we work diligently through this process.¡±