A senior executive from Samsung Electronics provided details on what the smartphone giant has done to ensure that its newest flagship products — the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus — will be a safe product for consumers. Sangkyu Lee, Senior Vice President of the Reliability Group at Samsung Electronics, revealed that the company had to change its priorities during the design and manufacturing stages of its smartphones, with the priority shifting towards features providing practical value and safety. An example of how this shift of priorities affected the design process, according to Lee, is how Samsung chose to focus on the longevity of the phone’s battery instead of focusing on improving its charging time.
While developing the Galaxy S8 lineup, Samsung gave more attention to the battery, the main culprit behind the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosions. According to Lee, the Galaxy S8 was designed around the battery that’s surrounded by empty space to avoid damage during falls. In addition to that, the battery design was altered to reduce, if not totally eliminate, pressure on the electrode and prevent battery substrate leakage. The software of the Galaxy S8 was also designed to include improved algorithms for monitoring battery temperature, charging current, and charging duration. Samsung also implemented an 8-point Battery Safety Check into the Galaxy S8 family, a technology that the company introduced last January. Furthermore, the company expanded its Product Liability Centers which, according to Lee, will allow the smartphone manufacturer to quickly respond to any potential incidents.
All of the measures outlined above were clearly implemented to prevent another Galaxy Note 7 fiasco which reportedly cost the company billions of dollars. Samsung’s investigation revealed several problems regarding the batteries made by its suppliers Samsung SDI and Amperex Technology Limited, which resulted in the implementation of new measures and testing procedures to ensure product safety. Nonetheless, it is clear that Samsung Electronics is now on the road to recovery, with Galaxy S8 preorders setting record numbers in the smartphone manufacturer’s home country of South Korea. Samsung is banking on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus to help regain its foothold in the premium smartphone market, which was negatively affected by the lack of high-end products in late 2016.