What if the Samsungs had a battery problem that swells, even making the affected devices unusable? This is the stone thrown into the pond by videographer Mrwhostheboss, supported in his approach by several big names in YouTube tech. We take stock.
Article updated on 09/30 at 4:54 p.m. with Samsung’s response, placed at the end of the article.
It is neither more nor less a bomb that fell on the head of Samsung Tuesday, September 27, 2022 with the last video by Youtubeur Arun Maini, better known under the pseudonym of Mrwhosetheboss. The videographer explains that he noticed that several of the phones he keeps in stock have seen their battery swell so much that the back cover has jumped out. And in all cases, it was a Samsung smartphone.
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If we could expect the problem to affect older smartphones, we were still surprised to find that a Galaxy Z Fold 2, released two years ago, was counted among the victims. The same goes for the Galaxy S10 5G featured in the video, which is only a little over three years old. Usage times much lower than expected when buying a premium phone. Especially since most of the batteries of these smartphones indicate, via a logo « 5 »that the batteries can theoretically operate for at least five years before degrading.
A shared problem
Arun Maini of course contacted the Suwon firm, which simply took the phones from him without providing further details for almost two months. So the Youtubeur decided to conduct his little investigation and went to interview several colleagues, which clearly reinforced the initial observation.
In his video, for example, we can see the very influential Marques Brownlee and Jerryrigeverything testifying, who both claim to have only noticed swollen battery problems on Samsung phones. The interest of contacting other videographers specializing in smartphones lies precisely in the stock of smartphones they still have at their disposal. Many of these youtubers have dozens of devices from many different brands. However, in any case, for the three videographers, only Samsung mobiles encountered this problem of swollen battery.
A little later in the video, Mrwhosetheboss qualifies his remarks a little by explaining that around 40% of the videographers contacted explaining that they had already had similar problems on other brands. But note all the same that in the comments of the video, several people collecting phones seem to confirm that Samsung is the only brand with which they have noticed the phenomenon.
Of course, the problem is all the more sensitive since Samsung is the biggest seller of phones in the world. The videographer rightly recalls in his video that the Korean firm sold nearly 300 million phones last year, which could lead to nearly a billion users, at the very least, around the world.
What to do in case of swollen battery
Interestingly, this summer, we were surprised to find that a Galaxy S7 (still a Samsung therefore) belonging to a member of our team had suffered this strange fate. We have also written a complete article recalling the precautions to take if the mishap happens to you.
???? @ArnaudGelineau had a little surprise when he found his old Galaxy S7
Reminder ⚠️: If this happens to you, do not attempt to remove the battery, use or charge the phone as this can be dangerous! pic.twitter.com/7YgYD9rf4Z
— Frandroid (@Frandroid) July 26, 2022
Let’s recall some basic principles here if you come across a swollen battery:
- As funny as it sounds, it is also very dangerous, the device can catch fire or even explode;
- Do not charge the device;
- Do not attempt to light or manipulate it;
- Even on a device that looks healthy from the outside, if odorschemicals» alert you, this may be a sign of a swollen battery;
- Do not keep the device at home and find a place to recycle it.
It goes without saying that the matter must be taken very seriously by the Korean firm, whose episode of Galaxy Note 7 explosives is still in everyone’s mind. What really happens to Samsung batteries? The brand provided us with an answer explaining that they are working on the subject. There she is : ” We are informed of this situation and we carry out in-depth technical analyses. We invite customers with questions regarding their Samsung device to contact our customer service on 0148630000 or via email and chat. » If you are concerned, she invites you to go to this address http://www.samsung.com/fr/info/contact/.
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