Samsung has not been in good media light lately, as several mobile reviewers on YouTubers have discovered some old and new smartphone models whose batteries were swelling when not in use for a long time. The drama started with Arun Maini, also known as Mrwhosetheboss, who was looking through his collection of more than 600 smartphones while preparing for a video about Samsung when he found that the battery on his Galaxy Note 8 had swelled up and split open the phone. Soon, he noticed the batteries in his Galaxy S6 and S10 had swelled as well.
Maini last month released a YouTube video exposing this and also tweeted about the bulging batteries, he heard from several other YouTube reviewers that their Samsung phones were starting to swell, too. It was clear that the issue was mainly affecting Samsung phones. And after the video, he heard from more people who’d found the same thing on newer models like last year’s Galaxy Fold.
Maini’s has so far discovered that eight phones have been affected. All are Samsung phones. None are from other manufacturers. Yes, that does mean that only 1 percent of his total phone collection is affected. But when billions of people are carrying around smartphones in their pockets every single day, any possibility that one particular family of phones might have significant battery issues down the line is worrying. But first, check out the video below.
Here is what is causing Samsung phones to swell
Swelling happens when the electrolyte material in the batteries, which is usually a liquid, begins to break down and then turn into a gas. Smartphone batteries are made of lithium-ion, and if you discharge [them] down where [they’re] almost completely devoid of energy, it will damage the battery.
This can happen to both Samsung and Apple phones. But why this is seemingly happening to more Samsung phones? iPhone batteries tend to swell less, and older iPhones have significantly smaller capacity batteries than Samsung batteries. Capacity also plays into how much a battery will swell. Now that iPhone battery capacities are getting bigger and bigger, we are yet to see how they behave with time.
What is most likely affecting Samsung phones is the quality of materials they use and manufacturing defects. When you have a metal component come in contact with a material that’s inside the battery and any sort of metal residue gets transferred into your battery during the manufacturing process, that is known to cause most or a significant number of battery failure mechanisms. It has been anticipated that it’s something to do with where Samsung is getting its batteries from. There is no doubt that Samsung knows the issue and has to do some further technical assessments.’
What to do if your phone battery bulges
If you do see that a phone’s battery is swelling, don’t panic, despite the very legitimate fears you may have after reading about the Note 7 fiasco. The swelling itself is not inherently dangerous and is a safety mechanism to contain the volatile gasses. Batteries actually swell mildly every time you charge them, and the phone manufacturers have built specific tolerances into the battery wells to account for that.
What can be dangerous is if you try to charge a battery that has gotten to the point where you can see it swelling. As you charge it, it will cause the electrolyte to break down even more. Then the battery may swell up more and eventually might rupture, and the heat from the battery damage might cause a thermal event that could lead to fires.
It is highly recommended to dispose of the swollen batteries safely and not burn them in the trash as that will lead to explosions. And while these swelling batteries may still be alarming, batteries are still, on the whole, pretty safe.
