Exploding Samsung Phones Show Perils of Building Better Battery
- Smartphone makers advance battery technology to win customers
- Bigger battery and faster charging may have led to issues
Has Samsung Pushed Battery Limits?
This article is for subscribers only.
Samsung Electronics Co., under pressure from consumers for longer-lasting batteries that charge faster, pushed the limits of lithium-ion technology. The effort backfired when some of its new Note 7 handsets caught fire and exploded.
Building a better battery has long bedeviled the tech industry. Smartphones are constantly improving, with sharper displays, improved software and cameras rivaling those used by the pros. Not so the batteries, which despite advances still die faster than consumers like and take too long to recharge.