Samsung’s phone batteries are reportedly swelling up – here’s everything you need to know

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Samsung’s phone batteries are reportedly swelling up – here’s everything you need to know
The swollen batteies on Samsung devices.Mrwhosetheboss
  • Popular YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss has found an issue with several of his Samsung devices.
  • The batteries of several of his Samsung smartphones have swollen, resulting in devices splitting in two parts.
  • Samsung has a history of battery issues and was even forced to issue a recall for the Galaxy Note 7.
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Samsung has had its fair share of battery issues and was even forced to announce a large-scale recall of the Galaxy Note 7 in 2016. This has probably been one of the reasons why the company is cautious about the battery capacity and fast charging technology it uses on its devices. However, the company’s battery troubles may not entirely be in the past.

Popular YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss (Arun Rupesh Maini) in a video has revealed that several Samsung smartphones that he has stored over the years have swollen.


Maini in his video stated that he was working on a video around Samsung smartphones when he noticed that the Galaxy Note 8 had “blown up”. In the video, we can see that the battery has expanded significantly and this has split the device in two parts.
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Initially, Maini didn’t think too much about this and ordered a replacement for the device. However, before he received the replacement, he noticed that two other devices, the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S10 had the same fate.

After this, the UK-based YouTuber checked several of his other devices, including Apple phones, Pixel phones and Asus devices. None of these devices had any issues. He noted that he has stored hundreds of devices in the same place at the same temperature and in the same position.
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Samsung’s response to Maini


In July, Maini posted a tweet mentioning that batteries of three of his Samsung devices had blown up. After this, Samsung contacted the YouTuber and picked up the devices to investigate.

The YouTuber has revealed that it has been over 50 days since the devices were picked up by Samsung and the company is yet to respond or replace the devices.

It’s not an isolated event


Here’s where the issue gets bigger. Maini found a Facebook post by another YouTuber, Matt Ansini, in which he claimed “every 3+ year old Samsung phone we had in storage at the office had their batteries expanded like this…every single one”.

After this, Maini rechecked his other Samsung devices and found that three other devices had blown up. The issue became quite serious when he found that the Galaxy Z Fold 2, the company’s premium foldable smartphone that was launched in 2020 had also blown up.

The YouTuber then reached out to Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD. Brownlee revealed that the YouTuber finds one or two swollen devices occasionally and “every single time, it’s been a Samsung phone, it’s never been any other brand of phone”.
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Maini then reached out to Zach from JerryRigEverything, who is popular for device teardowns.

Here’s JerryRigEverything’s take on the issue


Zach revealed that the issue could be with the electrolyte in the battery. Electrolyte is the liquid that ions move within the battery, allowing the battery to be stable. The liquid is reportedly decomposing and releasing a gas which is resulting in swollen batteries.

“If that electrolyte is gone, I think thermal runaway and damage to the battery is way more likely to happen if it ever is charged up again or tried to be used again,” said Zach from JerryRigEverything.

Zach then went on to puncture the swollen batteries but there was no explosion. He however said that he would be “very nervous” about charging a device with a swollen battery. He added that if the electrolyte has evaporated inside the battery, it would get “really hot really fast” if you charge it.

Batteries are supposed to last at least five years


After checking his Samsung devices multiple times, Maini noticed that the Galaxy S20 FE, which was delivered just 18 months ago had met the same fate. He added that batteries are claimed to last for at last five years and a battery expanding after just 18 months is not normal.
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Should you be worried?


At present, the issue is mostly being reported by users who have been storing their device for a long time and haven’t used it regularly. If you have such a device, or are using a Samsung smartphone, you can keep an eye on the battery and if you notice any issue, we recommend you to immediately contact a Samsung service centre.

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