YouTuber discovers the batteries in his older Samsung phones are swelling
Remember the whole fiasco with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and its exploding batteries? To date, we haven’t really heard many issues with Samsung phones since. While there might be the occasional explosion or fire related incident, those are typically associated with using unauthorized third-party chargers and are usually isolated events.
That being said, YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss has discovered something worrying. While preparing to create a new video about Samsung, the YouTuber discovered the phone on his Note 8 had swelled up to the point where it split the phone open. He went back to his older Samsung phones and discovered similar issues.
When he tweeted about the issue, other reviewers chimed in with similar experiences. It also appears to be largely a Samsung issue as the only phones that had these issues in his collection were all Samsung phones. It is unclear what could be the issue, but it has been suggested that maybe the fact that these phones were allowed to drain completely could be a contributing factor.
Speaking to The Verge, Arthur Shi from iFixit said that when lithium ion batteries are discharged down to the point where they are completely drained, it can damage the battery, which could potentially explain why they are swelling up. Samsung has since responded to the issue and told The Verge that they are looking into it.
In the meantime, if you happen to have an old Samsung phone that you haven’t used in years, maybe go take a look at it and see if its battery has swollen and if it has, get in touch with Samsung to see what can be done about it.
Source: The Verge