No one really knows what went wrong with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Even Samsung themselves are apparently clueless, although it has been suggested that maybe the physical design of the phone might be to blame. It was initially suspected that the batteries made by Samsung SDI could be the problem, but given that the replacement phones were exploding, it’s starting to seem unlikely.
That being said, a report from The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Samsung had actually self-tested the batteries of the Note 7. Why is this a problem? All other OEMs who want to sell phones in the US have their batteries tested by third-party labs that have been certified by the CTIA, which in turn ensures that they comply with the standards set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
However Samsung went against convention and for whatever reason decided to test the batteries themselves. A Samsung spokesman said that during their testing, no problems revealed itself and that they have been testing their own batteries in-house since 2009. Samsung is currently investigating the problem and expect to have an answer soon, but the company also stated that they are going to make some “significant changes” to its quality assurance process to ensure that this will never happen again.