Samsung issues pre-emptive statement on Galaxy S7 batteries

Samsung has issued a slightly odd pre-emptive statement on the batteries found in Galaxy S7 series of smartphones. Stating the company “stands behind the quality and safety of the Galaxy S7 family” the short note goes on to say that “there have been no confirmed cases of internal battery failures with these devices among the more than 10 million devices being used by consumers in the United States.”

As you may have seen around the web recently, a few stories of exploding Galaxy S7 and S7 Edges have circulate. But practically all of these have occurred in the aftermath of the Note 7 recall, when any story of a Samsung phone on fire hits the front page of every mobile site or technology section in a newspaper, even if that fire is the owner’s fault.

Samsung notes that the company has “confirmed a number of instances caused by severe external damage” – these are likely the S7s you’ve seen making headlines in recent weeks. But “until Samsung is able to obtain and examine any device, it is impossible to determine the true cause of any incident”.

Unfortunately, phones catch fire sometimes. Batteries swell and leak, components short-circuit, things break and butter-fingered owners don’t help things along either. But as the statement says, until testing can be done on any damaged devices it’s best not to jump to any inflammatory conclusions.

Have you ever had a phone catch fire or a battery swell?

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