Are Samsung phones blowing up?

[WelshPaul]

I'm posting in the S21 section but this affects almost all models of Samsung phones according to reports...

https://www.sammobile.com/news/have-an-old-samsung-phone-lying-around-check-its-battery/

https://www.androidpolice.com/batteries-inside-older-samsung-phones-swelling-disproportionately-high...

Have any of you experienced an issue with your phone battery expanding? I haven't but then I don't hold on to my old devices. 

[JAMES4578]

I have not experienced this issue with any of my Devices, though I do not have very old phones in my possession. As others have stated there are a very large number of Samsung Devices in circulation. The problem may be worse in devices that are fully discharged.  The issue is currently being reported by users who have stored phones for a long time that are not used regularly.  Apparently 60% of tech journalists with larger sample sizes agreed that Samsung phones were more of an issue but the others did not. perhaps it does require further investigation.

Advice on swollen Batteries here https://clevercreations.org/what-to-do-with-swollen-battery/ 

[Aronovic]

I had batteries ***** out on me but not ho on fire. My lg g6 first time around burned out due to a chipset fault. No phone is perfect or beyond faults.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @WelshPaul 

I watch jerryrigeverything as I'm interested in his own thoughts on how a phone holds up to his bend tests and various other ways of submitting the phone to sometimes drastic torture - like the lighter tests !

I also like his teardowns as I'm interested on what goes on inside and how easy or difficult it would be to replace a screen or back panel etc.

However some YouTube Creators are about paid promotions and like clicks as a source of income.

So I don't take everything as read in these videos.

I've owned and used many phone's over the years from Samsung and other manufacturers and haven't yet had any issues raised in direct concern to batteries.

I've certainly not had any make of phone " blow up " on me 🤔

I generally keep my phone's for 1 to 2 years with one as a back up.

My current back up phone in storage is the Fold³.

I take it out if the retail box every few months to charge it to keep it topped up and power it up to keep it updated.

When the accepted issues with the Note⁷ came to light requiring a recall Samsung then looked at all this, learned and implemented their new battery ⁸ point checks in order to deal with what happened.

> Samsung 8 Point Battery Check. 

Samsung takes any such occurrences with batteries seriously, and to contact Samsung Support ASAP so incidents can be investigated.

I've come across issues due to consumers using the wrong charger brick or a 3rd party version but due to the nature of how batteries work and sometimes negatively react incidents albeit rare can happen. With all batteries whether their in a Samsung phone , Apple phone or another.

Just my 2cents and personal thoughts as a fellow consumer of many makes of phones , not just Samsung phones.

Take care.

[WelshPaul]

There is an interesting comment on the Youtube video linked to above with a possible reason as to why this is happening to Samsung phones:

As a former Samsung Repair technician for about a decade, I know that from the S4 Series to the S20 Series, Samsung used Lithium Polymer batteries.

These are labeled as just "Li-Ion" However they also use a nickel and magnesium substrate between the Lithium layers. This is uncommon with most other companies, but Samsung uses this substrate as a "Shield" of sorts to discharge the battery in case of a puncture. However what Samsung will not tell you is that this was a mistake since Magnesium has a Half-Life of around 1,000 hours and produces carbon Dioxide as a by product of decomposition. This causes the batteries to swell and eventually rupture.

The S21 series and beyond no longer have a metallic substrate, with a discharge circuit built into the motherboard of the phone. This is a well known issue within Samsung and its subsidiaries, but has not been released to the public as far as I know.

[cavellix]

I've had all kinds of different Samsung phone's for many, many year's and never had this problem. Nor has anyone I know.

[cavellix]

Blimey lol