
Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone catches fire on Southwest plane - ssclafani
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13175000/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fire-replacement-plane-battery-southwest
======
Analemma_
This is a huge problem for Samsung. Individual recalls don't usually damage
companies permanently; people understand that sometimes shit happens, and they
quickly forget about it. But two in a row, when the replacements were supposed
to be safe, is the kind of thing that etches itself much more deeply into
public consciousness. Popular culture is now going to be associating "Samsung
phone" with "time bomb" for a long time to come.

~~~
molecule
And the event taking place on an airplane is close enough to the nightmare
scenario of catching fire during a flight that it will be firmly placed into
the public consciousness.

~~~
roel_v
I flew Emirates last week, and the preflight announcement about electronic
devices said use of all devices was ok, except Galaxy Note 7 which need to
stay turned off during the whole flight. I can't imagine much worse PR, when
yoir products are routinely called out by neutral third parties for being an
actual hazard source.

~~~
richardw
And this thing was supposedly off when it started smoking:

"Green said that he had powered down the phone as requested by the flight crew
and put it in his pocket when it began smoking."

What's the remedy here? All Galaxy Notes in the airtight metal box until we
land?

~~~
tajen
First I'm surprised Al Queda doesn't use a special OS or a virus to make
phones explode on a plane. Second, it could be competitors who specifically
target the Note 7 with a 0-day attack to harm Samsung's reputation.

All phones with a battery are a fire hazard if they get the wrong OS.

~~~
Jonnax
The battery itself has a controller to prevent overcharging. I very much doubt
the OS can override that.

------
Bud
Samsung really needs to cut bait here, accept and admit fully that they made a
major engineering mistake, come clean, and forcibly recall ALL the devices,
before there is a major disaster.

The time for serious, adult action was several weeks ago. From here on out,
they deserve what they get.

~~~
tempestn
The thing is, this was a _replacement_ Note 7, which therefore includes their
fix for the issue. So either they made a second mistake, or this is a very
unlucky coincidence, or something else is going on.

~~~
makomk
This was the _box_ for a replacement Note 7. The question is, does the phone
match the box?

------
radley
Interesting he's only been using wireless chargers. I used a Tylt wireless
charger for a couple of Nexus 7s and both tablets now have a warped back due
to overheating via prolonged charging.

Very curious if the fire was specifically caused by wireless charging.

------
bcheung
For those interested in understanding batteries at a more technical level
check out this link:

[http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/](http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/)

[http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/bu_304b_making_li...](http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/bu_304b_making_lithium_ion_safe)

------
r00fus
This entire episode seems hard to believe. How could Sammy fail so hard after
so many years of industry knowledge? What corners did they cut?

Is it just unbalanced reporting or possibly sabotage? Seriously don't believe
they got wrong what everyone else seems to have dodged.

~~~
joonhocho
I see the whole fiasco to be deeply related to how Samsung is run and
controlled by the infamous Lee family. Note 7's battery is made by Samsung
SDI, one of Samsung's subsidiaries, and I assume that SDI gets most of its
revenues directly from Samsung Electronics. When you (SDI) have Samsung as
your guaranteed customer, you don't really have to compete or try to survive.
Besides, Samsung always set their flagship release dates based on expected
Apple's iPhone releases, always trying to ship to market few weeks before
Apple. When your release dates are set to your competitors' pace, not your
own, you will certainly make mistakes like this.

~~~
MrQuincle
The replacement battery is henceforth not made by SDI. Around 30% of the
existing Note 7s were made by Amperex Technology, so they only need to
increase those numbers.

You're statement would also mean that if you're a department within Apple you
also do not need to compete or try to survive. I don't think that's
necessarily true. There are probably inefficiencies, but there is also a lot
to gain as well. It just depends on the quality of the organization.

------
webaholic
"He has already replaced it with an iPhone 7."

This is the biggest FU to samsung.

~~~
Steko
The commercial writes itself. Apple should be in negotiations with the guy
already.

~~~
MBCook
I'd say that's beneath Apple. They usually don't attack competitors directly
(used to WAY back, but now now).

At least I really hope it is. Twisting the knife at something like this would
be a pretty horrible thing to do.

~~~
madeofpalk
Leaders (or at least those who perceive themselves to be) rarely have a need
to attack those who are underneath them.

~~~
MBCook
True, that's why it would feel so cheap. Back when Apple had 4% of the PC
market (before iPod) it made sense.

------
limaoscarjuliet
Does anyone else think like me this might be a one time failure that is caused
by the replacement phone being dropped or mishandled? Or, perhaps, a setup by
the competition?

Unless I see statistical evidence that replacement Note 7 is catching on fire
(random, different circumstances), then I do not see a reason to believe Note
7 replacement is b0rked.

Unfortunately, most people do not reason like that. Samsung's reputation will
suffer, even after this single "Replacement Note 7 on fire" incident.

~~~
iends
Most people don't reason like that because there is no acceptable reason for a
phone to catch fire from "mishandling" or "dropping".

This was even after they thought they fixed the issue, so of course it looks
very bad. Not only did they build a dangerous consumer device, it seems they
did not actually fix it the second time around.

~~~
yread
> there is no acceptable reason for a phone to catch fire from "mishandling"
> or "dropping".

maybe there is no acceptable reason but it happens A LOT:

[https://www.google.nl/search?q=phone+catches+fire+-samsung](https://www.google.nl/search?q=phone+catches+fire+-samsung)

------
jagermo
When we flew with Lufthansa a few weeks ago they expressly forbade the use of
the Galaxy Note 7. I have never heard something like that - its a real problem
for Samsung.

~~~
rsync
Swiss air flight three weeks ago - same thing. Samsung galaxy 7 specifically
mentioned as cannot be powered on during the flight.

~~~
azinman2
According to the story it wasn't even powered on

------
bshastry
Why the heck would the article end with the information that the owner has
replaced it with iPhone 7. When did the verge start"native" advertising?

~~~
ericzawo
How is that native advertising? It's relevant to the story.

~~~
hueving
It's about as relevant as saying he calmed his nerves from the whole ordeal
with an ice cold coca cola.

~~~
bollockitis
Not really. It implies that the owner no longer has faith in Samsung products
and has switched, so I'd say it's relevant. They could have said that he
replaced it with "another brand," which would have been more appropriate, but
I still think it's relevant.

~~~
hueving
It's still not relevant to the story, which is about the phone exploding. The
owner losing faith in Samsung doesn't matter. The only way it would be
relevant is if he has decided ahead of time that he was switching to the
iPhone and Samsung tried to bump him off because of it.

------
cmurf
What percentage of Galaxy Note 7 owners know they have a Galaxy Note 7?

I imagine some break down is: I have an Android phone. I have a Samsung phone.
I have a Samsung Galaxy. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note.

But Samsung Galaxy Note 7, specifically? I'm guessing at best 50% might know
that.

~~~
BookmarkSaver
I don't follow this at all. I definitely have a very skewed sample, but I
haven't ever met a single person who didn't know exactly what type of
smartphone they own. Phones are expensive, a Note 7 would be nearly brand new
and is the most expensive and highest quality phone out there. I would guess
that 99% of owners know what they have. People don't just pick up top-of-the-
line flagships on a whim, only the most rich, lazy, AND ignorant person could
settle on getting one without knowing exactly what they are buying. Anyone who
is missing even just one of those qualities would end up with a different
phone or know what they own.

And again, I've literally never met a person who couldn't immediately name
their model smartphone, not the most dumbass poor person I've met nor my
completely tech illiterate grandparents. Also, your breakdown seems fanciful
anyway, who in the world would know that they have a Samsung "Galaxy"? No one
cares about that name, it's only ever said in the middle of the whole title,
it isn't a thing that people think about on its own.

~~~
Houshalter
Well the Galaxy Note 7 is a higher end device so maybe. But my parents both
bought smartphones and they couldn't name the model. I tested this theory just
now and my dad got the even the manufacturer wrong.

~~~
ghshephard
Right - the parent was saying if you have the _absolute latest_ flagship
phone, you're likely to know it. The type of people who don't know the model
of their phone are those who aren't buying the "Just released in last 60 days
and is the most expensive in it's class" type smartphones.

~~~
BoorishBears
Or they just got their first flagship and went with the most expensive one
because the monthly cost didn't seem that large. I don't buy that most phone
owners know the phone they own, but I could definitely see non-phone
enthusiasts ending up with Note 7s

------
markdown
> Green’s colleague went back onto the plane to retrieve some personal
> belongings and said that the phone had burned through the carpet and
> scorched the subfloor of the plane.

I'm surprised this airline still doesn't have Planegard or something similar
on board their aircraft. Burning/exploding devices are going to happen often
enough that this should be a necessity.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU4ALLsedj0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU4ALLsedj0)

------
rootbear
What a mess. I wouldn't want to be in Samsung quality control right now.

In what has to be the nerdiest humor I've ever come up with, I suggested to
some astronomer friends here at NASA that this Samsung Galaxy line be
rebranded the Samsung Seifert.

------
grandalf
It's my understanding that all Lithium Ion batteries can fairly easily catch
fire if they are not treated somewhat carefully, typically by a circuit that
prevents loads that might cause it to heat up.

Is it theoretically possible that malware could be designed that would cause a
Lithium Ion powered smart phone's battery to catch fire? I'm thinking it would
be more of a low-level firmware update where a programmable logic device was
used as part of the battery protection circuit.

Thoughts?

~~~
ZoFreX
This is about Macbooks, not phones, but it's interesting background on your
question nonetheless: [https://media.blackhat.com/bh-
us-11/Miller/BH_US_11_Miller_B...](https://media.blackhat.com/bh-
us-11/Miller/BH_US_11_Miller_Battery_Firmware_Public_WP.pdf)

------
kabdib
Some of the datacenters I visit have signs on them forbidding people from
having Samsung Note 7s on the floor.

"Keep them in your car," one of the signs said. Hmmm, maybe storing them near
many liters of gasoline isn't the best idea . . .

~~~
colejohnson66
I'm sure they'd rather you lose your car than their entire data center

~~~
lucb1e
The entire datacenter from one 3500mAh 5V battery? That sounds like a book
rather than real life.

There's a reason people charging quadcopter's lipo batteries are told to watch
them while charging, not abandon them.

~~~
BuildTheRobots
It's not that they'd loose the data centre, but VESDA environmental monitoring
units are surprisingly sensitive so you could easily end up with the fire
suppression system firing.

At best you've then got a >$10k invoice to refill and reset the system. More
likely you've got damage to servers, people and/or the building as well as
massive amounts of disruption to deal with.

------
JimmaDaRustla
I recently flew to Munich/Prague with Air Canada and Lufthansa - the flight
attendants said to both not charge a Samsung Note 7 and that they require them
to actually also be turned off.

~~~
4ad
Does turning them off prevent them from catching on fire?

What is the actual problem described in technical terms, really?

~~~
Alupis
> Does turning them off prevent them from catching on fire?

Doubtful. Isn't it the Li-ion batteries that are combusting, ie. chemical
reaction?

~~~
eknkc
They might be safe without load on them. Who knows? Maybe Samsung does.

I'm imagining cargo ships / stores with stacks of these things though. Wonder
if one goes boom, would that spread and start a fire?

~~~
Alupis
I don't know if load matters[1]. Could be impact related, or heat related, or
something else entirely?

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLc74Qpvweg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLc74Qpvweg)

------
JumpCrisscross
What are the odds this is properly investigated? Korean chaebol culture is
notoriously close-fisted.

~~~
joonhocho
It wouldn't even have been known to the public, if it happened only in Korea,
because they have a complete control of the media in S Korea. When it first
happened it Korea, media tried to dismiss it as if it was a false report by
black consumers who are trying to win some money by suing Samsung. I found it
pretty funny because, in Korea, you never win against any big companies in the
court. There are no scenarios where you can sue a company and win any money.
Even if, you do end up winning, it won't be in $millions like in US, but will
max $10000, which rarely happens at all. So no sane person will even try. I am
glad that it also happened in US, because Samsung does not have the same
control in US as they do in Korea. The only way for this to be properly
investigated is to be done by US, not Korean government. It was really
ridiculous to see how all Korean media praised how great a company Samsung is
when they announced a recall.

~~~
p4mk
What about social media? Is it also difficult for such news to spread there?

~~~
joonhocho
People are afraid to share anything that talks bad about Samsung, because they
believe it will affect them negatively in the future when searching for jobs
or such.

------
MickH
These phones should be returned immediately by the company before someone
inadvertently is dead because think of the senario where someone is driving
with this phone in the drivers pocket & catches fire........ all OK if the car
isn't doing 70 along a motorway otherwise - danger of a collision.... it has
happened in the past re wasps & bees distracting the drivers attention which
is a very serious matter. Any spontaneous combustion of anything must be
resolved forthwith. So Are these phones being recalled ?

------
fokinsean
What happens if someone decides to check it in their luggage and it catches
fire there. Are there measures to deal with fires in the cargo hold?

~~~
nostrademons
There are - after a bunch of really bad aircraft fires in the 90s caused by
hazardous materials in the cargo holds, the FAA has mandated fire suppression
systems in all commercial air cargo holds.

Still, though, airlines would rather avoid the problem entirely. Airline
safety usually relies on defense-in-depth - you fix the root cause, and then
you fix anything else that would've stopped the problem, because things go
wrong in a cramped cylinder at 30,000 feet. For example, a fast-moving fire
could easily burn through the hydraulics or electronics that would trigger the
fire suppression system before it has a chance to go off.

~~~
hga
And that is how I quickly explain ORM-D
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORM-D](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORM-D))
class items like small arms ammunition, which of course is allowed to be
packed in small quantities in individuals' checked luggage: things that aren't
particularly dangerous by themselves, but if in a plane's cargo hold in
sufficient quantity, could accelerate a fire beyond the capabilities of those
fire suppression systems.

Whereas few overly worry about shipping 1000+/\- rounds by ground, except e.g.
the movers that just moved me to my new home, they really can't afford to play
the game of numbers with the few trucks they have (no batteries, or liquids
(which could make a schedule breaking mess), either).

Big enough high energy batteries on planes, or too close to my skin ... those
give me the heebie jeebies....

------
PaulRobinson
I got a flight across Greece a week or so back. It's the first time a named
device was singled out as "do not turn on, do not attempt to charge, please
identify yourself to cabin staff"-type stuff since the 1990s when there was a
bunch of - I think, Gateway - laptops that were known to catch fire, and they
were regularly not allowed on flights.

The fact this is a replacement means the product has a major engineering flaw,
and is likely to end up meaning the product is scrapped completely.

This could be the end of Samsung. They need to get on this and shut it down
within a few days. Good luck to them.

~~~
msl
> This could be the end of Samsung.

This really could not. Samsung is a gigantic conglomerate. They make
everything from power plants to super tankers and weapon systems. They could
lose their phone business entirely and still be huge.

~~~
nolok
It's also not going to kill their phone business, at all.

~~~
DiabloD3
It won't even end the Galaxy Note product line.

They'll just sweep it under the rug and release the next one in 9 months.

------
sengork
Hopefully this means that a replaceable battery makes a comeback in the next
Note series.

------
skc
Those iPhone 7 sales numbers are going to be absolutely MONSTROUS.

------
MickH
Appropriate TV advert =====Boom -la la la la lah mental technicians of
electronics??????

------
MickH
There must be money to be made for a mobile phone mini fire
extinguisher???????/

------
MickH
Is there a ceramic furnace liner phone cover ????????

------
frik
Boarding an airplane they mention to turn off the Samsung Note 7 for the
entire time on board.

Samsung will have to release a Note 8 soon. Note 7 users will have a hard time
even in future and it's bad for Samsung's brands.

------
Xorlev
Time to short Samsung.

~~~
twblalock
It's not that easy to buy Samsung stock outside of South Korea.

~~~
colejohnson66
SSNLF?

~~~
twblalock
Not that easy unless you are a bit more into stock trading than the average
retail investor, or willing to lump SSNLF in with a bunch of other South
Korean companies in an index fund.

[http://www.nasdaq.com/article/why-and-how-to-invest-in-
samsu...](http://www.nasdaq.com/article/why-and-how-to-invest-in-samsung-
ssnlf-cm610116)

> The shares of Samsung don’t trade on major exchanges like Nasdaq and NYSE in
> the U.S. It is listed on the Korean exchange and available as GDR in London
> and Luxembourg. However, in accordance with Rule 144A of the U.S. Securities
> Exchange Act, U.S. citizens are prohibited from investing in GDR’s. The
> following options are available to U.S. investors:

> 1\. Investors can either buy shares directly in the Korean stock market
> after proper paper work or through a local securities firm or bank (Merrill
> Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. are eligible)

> 2\. Investors can buy Samsung’s shares traded over-the-counter in the U.S.

> 3\. Investors can opt to take exposure to Samsung along with other Korean
> companies by investing in a South Korea ETF, for example, the iShares MSCI
> South Korea Capped ETF (EWY) has a heavy exposure of 20.64% towards Samsung
> Electronics Co., Ltd.

------
sporkologist
It's starting to look a little like the Volkswagen fiasco.

------
cloudjacker
> Green’s Note 7 is in the hands of the Louisville Fire Department’s arson
> unit for investigation. He has already replaced it with an iPhone 7.

------
grandalf
I'm not sure why everyone is caught up with the competition between Apple and
Samsung when the Blu R1-HD sells for $59. Most people I know would be
indifferent between the Blu R1-HD and a higher end phone (considering
performance, battery life, form factor, build quality, camera and screen
quality).

~~~
PostOnce
Theres a bigger difference than you think.

I have here a Sony Xperia E1 and a Motorola Moto G (2nd gen)

The Xperia is also $59 and Sony is a more widely known brand so let's assume
they're similar.

The Moto G was $179 new some years ago the Xperia is $59 today.

On paper, they're similar in terms of ram, cpu cores, flash, gpu, etc.

But in practice... there is an absolute world of difference, and we're not
talking flagship phones vs cheap ones, we're talking one cheap phone vs a
slightly less cheap phone, but still low-mid range.

The screen on the sony sucks by comparison, its all washed out and grey (not
IPS), the speakers also suck, the camera sucks, the letters in the SONY logo
are falling off it now says SO, the thing is a bastard to hold on to because
the case is slippery. It's also just slower for some reason, even though the
CPU is faster, so I assume the flash is crappy? And the digitizer sucks,
scrolling goes wobbly all the time. (I thought, oh, I'll buy a cheap Sony,
they make good stuff... I guess cheap shit is cheap shit no matter whose name
is on it.)

and that's Sony, so I can only imagine Blu is worse.

(just FYI, flagships are better at everything in terms of speed, display
quality, camera, feeling, etc, but they also do A LOT MORE physically, i.e.
they have NFC, they're waterproof, they read fingerprints, they have multiple
gyros, etc)

~~~
makomk
Why would you imagine that Blu is worse? Especially on the low end, a lot of
the older brands can and do trade heavily on their established name and
reputation to sell utter crap. There's little downside to this - as you
demonstrated, if someone buys their stuff and it turns out to be a piece of
shit they'll often just assume that everything else must be even worse.

From the specs I can find, the R1 HD has a 5-inch 720p IPS display and much
better reviews than the Sony Xperia E1 did. Not only that, at the time of its
release the E1 was competing with the Moto E which (like its bigger brother)
also had an IPS screen and far better reviews than the E1.

~~~
grandalf
I agree with this. I bought a Blu R1-HD when my iPhone 6 screen cracked, and
decided to wait a few weeks so I could just replace it with an iPhone 7.

The few weeks using the Blu went a lot differently than I expected. The phone
is very solid and the overall experience of using the phone is first-rate.

It would be one thing if we were talking about a $599 Android phone compared
with a $749 iPhone. But this thing cost me $59 which is in a totally different
ballpark. I would simply not have expected it to be anywhere close to iPhone
quality but it is.

The only things that are "worse" than an iPhone 6 in my opinion are:

\- the touch screen is slightly less accurate for taps, but this could also be
because I'm less accustomed to Android.

\- No compass. GPS works fine but panning the phone around doesn't re-orient
the map when navigating which is a feature I like.

There are also several nice features which it has that the iPhones lack, such
as support for SD card storage expansion (I immediately added a fast 64GB one
I had lying around) and a second SIM card.

Not trying to nitpick features. Buying a R1-HD is like getting a one year old
Ferrari for $12K.

~~~
PostOnce
You two have convinced me to buy an R1-HD.

------
resolaibohp
It seems to be that Samsung is getting a lot of extra scrutiny based on their
recall and the news is exploiting this. Phone batteries have been known to
overheat and explode for years now and it is in no way brand specific. I think
the way Samsung handled the whole situation was above and beyond how other
companies may have responded. They identified an issue, and replaced
everything.

I am not saying that Samsung could not have made another mistake, but I think
it is unreasonable to try and link every single battery issue and explosion
under the Samsung brand as something that is a precursor to another giant
issue.

This recently happened with an iphone on a plane:
[http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/apple-faa-
investigatin...](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/apple-faa-
investigating-after-iphone-catches-fire-mid-flight-n543516)

~~~
givinguflac
"I think the way Samsung handled the whole situation was above and beyond how
other companies may have responded."

LOL, you mean like follow the proper legal process for filing a recall in the
US? Yeah... they did none of that. What exactly was "above and beyond"??
Seriously, I'm not even joking, I'm genuinely curious as from my perspective
they did the absolute bare minimum, and took an insane amount of time to even
start addressing such a dangerous defect.

I've worked with companies that had a dangerous defect they discovered before
any issues occurred, and the same day they stopped sales, contacted every
potentially affected customer directly and requested they stop using the
product and sent them a shipping label to get the gear back and replace it at
no cost or traveling to a store for the user.

~~~
resolaibohp
I define above and beyond as recalling all of their defective product with no
questions asked, offering a substitute while they fix the problem, and then
finally replacing the phones to anyone who wants to try them again.

If this is a poor company response please let me know who has done better as I
would too like to do business with them instead. Clearly my experiences with
companies have been drastically different than yours.

~~~
duskwuff
Recalling and replacing a product that can spontaneously catch fire is not
going "above and beyond". It is the _bare minimum_.

~~~
resolaibohp
What would you have liked to see beyond replacement?

~~~
criddell
Transparency around what the problem was, why it happened, and how it was
fixed.

------
vadym909
I was on a flight recently and the lady next to me had a large Samsung phone
on which she was constantly playing games, etc. and I was very worried.

I was also afraid of questioning if it was a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 because the
attendant made an announcement saying people should turn it off and she
didn't. Next time I'm not going to be afraid. Can't imagine the consequence if
it caught fire at 30,000 feet.

~~~
imaginenore
I'm much more worried about something like this in a check-in bag, where the
fire can spread uncontrollably. At least in cabin you will notice the fire
early and can use the fire extinguisher.

~~~
x1798DE
I don't think lithium batteries are allowed in check luggage. You're supposed
to carry them on.

~~~
chakalakasp
Thank God everyone carefully reads and follows the checked luggage rules and
regulations! ;)

------
djyaz1200
Why are we allowing these on airplanes?! Are we waiting for someone to leave
one of these devices in their checked luggage so it can start a fire that
downs a commercial airliner before banning them?!

------
mschuster91
Well Samsung, that's what you get for using non-replaceable batteries.

I hope that this desaster forces either phone vendors or regulatory agencies
to mandate replaceable batteries. The EU got through with mandating micro-USB,
after all...

~~~
MikusR
So replaceable batteries dont explode?

~~~
mschuster91
They can, but you can separate the device from the battery in case of recalls,
thus preventing natural resource waste.

Also, my Galaxy Note 1 battery blew up on me because I used a cheap charger. I
simply took it out, disposed of it at a city waste center, and put in a new
battery for 15€. Try this with a "closed" phone. Either you can do it
yourself, which requires at minimum 3h time + specialized equipment (e.g.
regulated hot air gun), or pay 100€+ to a service center.

Thanks but no thanks to fixed batteries.

~~~
duskwuff
I can't speak for the Galaxy Note, but when I replaced the battery on my
iPhone, it took me perhaps twenty minutes with minimal tools (screwdrivers,
suction cup, plastic "spudger" \-- all supplied with the battery) and no prior
experience. Could probably do it in half the time with practice.

~~~
lucb1e
When I took out my Samsung Note 2 battery it took me perhaps ten seconds with
no practice either. Twenty minutes for replacing a component they know is
going to wear out the quickest of all components is long and a dick move by
the company.

~~~
duskwuff
To give some perspective, this was for a phone that was around 4 years old,
and which had been sitting in a box fully discharged for a while, destroying
the original battery.

Twenty minutes of work over four years is not a big deal.

