Shoppers inspect the shelves of a Samsung store in Seoul after Samsung announced the second recall of Galaxy Note 7. [Photo by Yoo Dae-gil = dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
South Korean online tech communities have turned into the hotpot of debate and speculation over whether Samsung's smartphone debacle was caused by malfunctioning batteries or a more fundamental flaw in design and layout.
The state-run Korea Agency for Technology and Standards has launched a joint probe with government and civilian experts into the cause of Samsung's flagship Galaxy Note 7 phones catching fire while charging.
"We've confirmed a possible source of flaws," the agency said in a vaguely-worded statement on Tuesday when the world's largest smartphone maker stopped production and global sales of Note 7s.
Samsung remained tight-lipped on the cause of smartphone fires, sparking rampant speculation and debate in South Korean online tech communities. Before Samsung announced the second recall of Note 7s, some users pointed the finger at misdesigning, not defective parts in batteries.
"I think batteries are not the real problem," wrote "Uatant", a user from South Korea's popular tech community Clien.
"Samsung Electronics blamed the batteries made by Samsung SDI and have replaced them with China's ATL batteries but replacements showed the same problem. There must be another problem which may have caused the overflowing of electric currents into the batteries."
Originally, the Note 7s' batteries were produced by two manufacturers -- Samsung SDI and ATL. The first defect batteries were discovered to be SDI's and Samsung used only ATL batteries for the replacements, leaving SDI out of the game. But the replacements also have exploded.
The theory was supported by another user named "Mikastar" who said the Note 7 has bigger battery capacity than its brother Galaxy S7 Edge. "So designers probably had to cram in the size-increased battery into the casing, applying a lot of physical and electrical stress. I think it has a problem in its inner design."
Other tech fans leaned toward the universal logic that defective batteries have generated heat. "Fedor-Fedor" wrote: "If the problem came from an inner design, every Note 7s should have its batteries exploded. The theory about a flaw in the inner design does not make sense."
Although community fans clashed with each other with different theories, many shared a sympathetic thought with "Fifa14" who wrote: "With water-tight features, a Wacom pen, and its overall superb quality (except the battery), I am so sad to let my Note 7 go. I cannot find a perfect replacement model."
On the other side, market experts were betting on whether Samsung will dump its Galaxy series to produce a fresh model. Galaxy Note 7s were put on sale on August 19, but Samsung announced a global recall on September 2.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
