Tech

Samsung’s explosive batteries return, cause fire in Chinese factory

Samsung and the local fire department don’t agree on what happened.

Photo of Phillip Tracy

Phillip Tracy

Article Lead Image

A fire erupted in Samsung‘s factory in Tianjing, China, today. The phone company and local firefighters agree that faulty batteries caused the accident—just not which batteries. 

Samsung says the fire broke out in the part of the facility used for waste (old Note 7 batteries, for example), while the local Wuqing branch of the Tianjin Fire Department wrote on a microblog that the fire was caused by batteries inside the production workshops and that “half-finished” products are to blame, according to Reuters.

The fire in question was luckily only a minor one and did not result in any casualties or significant impact to the plant’s operations. The fire department did have to send 110 firefighters and 19 trucks to put it out.

The factory is currently running as normal, and Samsung’s Galaxy S8 will not be delayed because of the incident.

The Tianjin plant is one of five production centers in China and a major one for small batteries used in phones. Samsung SDI, the affiliate company that operates the Tianjing factory, was one of two organizations blamed for the poor battery designs that plagued the Note 7.

We have reached out to Samsung SDI for clarification on what batteries exploded and whether they were being created or thrown away.

H/T Engadget

Featured Video
 
The Daily Dot