Apple’s not the only smartphone manufacturer having PR issues involving its phone batteries. Some owners of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 are reporting that their handsets refuse to charge or turn on after running out of charge.
According to Samsung, this issue affects a, “very limited number of reports which could be associated with the power management circuit.”
For customers whose phones are in warranty, Samsung recommends getting a replacement handset. For those who aren’t covered, however, it suggests a treatment called “stack charging,” in which the phones are plugged in for 10-15 seconds at a time about 30 seconds apart. After around 20 minutes or 100 attempts, you should have enough power to get your phone up and running again.
Speaking with Engadget, a Samsung spokesperson said that, “we are unable to comment further until we obtain more specific information from the phone. Any consumers with questions about their device should contact us directly at 1-800-SAMSUNG so that we can help them.”
Samsung’s troubling battery history
This isn’t the first time Samsung’s Note handsets have run into battery-related problems. This time last year, Samsung was recovering from issues concerning its Galaxy Note 7 handset.
Due to design faults, the handset’s exploding battery torched a family’s jeep, and caused the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines flight after a passenger’s Note 7 emitted a thick grey-green smoke and burned a hole in the plane’s carpet.
Samsung issued a worldwide recall, only to find that the replacement units it had issued also caught fire. Ultimately, the company cancelled the device, bricked the remaining units, and issued a full page apology in the newspaper.
Fortunately, it seems that the Note 8 issues are nowhere near as severe — and affect only a handful of users. Still, it highlights the fact that Apple is far from the only company to be suffering a battery-related PR nightmare.
