- Kyle Chua
YouTuber Alleges Batteries of Samsung Phones Have a High Rate of Swelling
Do you have Samsung phones that you no longer use stored somewhere in your house? You might want to check on them as it's been found that their batteries can balloon up as time passes and become major fire hazards.
Arun Rupesh Maini, who goes by Mrwhosetheboss on YouTube, brought the issue to public attention after noticing it on a number of Samsung phones from his extensive collection.
In a video, he shows how the battery of his Galaxy Note 8 from 2017 swelled up so bad it cracked the glass back. At first, he thought it was an isolated issue, but he later found that the batteries of the Galaxy S6 from 2015 and the Galaxy S10 from 2019 had similarly swelled. Perhaps even worse is that the issue can also occur on phones that are only a couple of years old like the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
Maini also found other Samsung owners, including some popular YouTubers, who noticed the issue on their own phone units, seemingly suggesting a wider systemic issue when it comes to battery quality control. Marques Brownlee, another popular tech YouTuber, for instance, tweeted that he's had several Samsung batteries balloon up after he stopped using them, which never happened on any other brand. Austin Evans then replied to Brownlee's tweet, saying "I have zero Samsung phones older than Galaxy S9 because they’ve all expanded."
The issue supposedly stems from how lithium batteries decompose over time, producing a gas that causes the ballooning, as JerryRigEverything explains in the video. It's observable in batteries that haven't been recharged or discharged for a long period of time. That means if you're still actively using a phone, the chances of you running into this issue are slim. Keeping batteries charged at least 50% when not in use for extended periods can reportedly help prevent this issue.
Still, the issue is a concerning one, especially considering Samsung's previous battery woes. In 2016, the South Korean tech giant shipped the Galaxy Note 7, many of which had battery defects that caused units to heat up and explode. The company later discontinued the phone and dealt with years of bad press, which would force it to improve the safety standards of its batteries.
While Maini's findings do warrant further investigation, it's worth pointing out that this is a common issue among lithium batteries in general. Some have already reported that they've observed it in other brands of phones as well. But Samsung has been singled out here because its older phones is said to balloon at a much higher rate than that of any other brand in the market.
Samsung has yet to publicly comment on the matter. We have reached out to Samsung for comment but haven't heard back at the time of publication.
Arun Rupesh Maini, who goes by Mrwhosetheboss on YouTube, claims the batteries of older Samsung phones have a much higher rate of ballooning versus that of any other brands.
In a video, he shows how the battery of his Galaxy phones swelled up so bad they cracked the backs of the units that housed them.
The issue supposedly stems from how lithium batteries decompose over time, producing a gas that causes the ballooning.
Samsung has yet to publicly comment on the matter.