Why smartphones are exploding batteries, and why they may worsen

Why smartphones are exploding batteries, and why they may worsen ,

James Bareham / the Verge

Samsung officially called the Galaxy Note 7 in the world, after more than 90 major smartphones in the US overheated because of defective batteries. Overheating is, in this case, a euphemism, some owners have stated their smartphones literally exploded. Exploding Lithium-ion batteries are actually not that rare. As my colleagues Angela Chen and Lauren Goode noted earlier this month, there are many ways for a lithium-ion to become dangerous, and they are not limited to any smartphone or electronic device.

"A phone explosion appears to be a freak accident," wrote Chen and Goode, "but the same chemical properties that make batteries also function make them susceptible to fire."

For Learn more about lithium-ion batteries, I invited the Verge science journalist Angela Chen to the show. We talk about how manufacturers push the battery to its limit, and what alternatives we can see in the future.

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