'Aggressive design' blamed for Samsung's exploding Note 7 disaster

Did Samsung knowingly ship a dangerous product?

A policy of "aggressive design" has been blamed for Samsung's exploding Galaxy Note 7 disaster, according to a new report that accuses the company of shipping a product that it knew to be "dangerous".

The Galaxy Note 7 was recalled (twice) and permanently discontinued shortly after it was released following a spate of reports of handsets going up in flames.

While Samsung has said it's investigating what caused handsets to explode, it's yet to release a full explanation, beyond having previously alluded to the battery manufacturing process being the main source of the disaster.

However, according to a team of independent hardware engineers at Instrumental who have opened up an explosion-prone Note 7, "aggressive design" likely is the main culprit.

The team has suggested that the ultra-slim design of the handset was compressing the battery "even during normal operations".

All lithium batteries are prone to swelling when they are charged and discharged, the report notes, so to account for that, engineers are recommended to leave some space between the battery and the back cover.

"The design and validation process for a new product is challenging for everyone. In this case, Samsung took a deliberate step towards danger, and their existing test infrastructure and design validation process failed them," Instrumental said.

"They shipped a dangerous product. That this is possible at one of the top consumer electronic companies in the world is humbling -- and demonstrates the need for better tools. Instrumental is building them."

What's more, the report notes that Samsung knew the "super aggressive" design was risky but went with it anyway because it was trying so hard to innovate and gain a competitive edge.

"If the Galaxy Note 7 wasn't recalled for exploding batteries, [we] believe that a few years down the road these phones would be slowly pushed apart by mechanical battery swell," Instrumental adds.

"A smaller battery using standard manufacturing parameters would have solved the explosion issue and the swell issue. But, a smaller battery would have reduced the system's battery life below the level of its predecessor, the Note 5, as well as its biggest competitor, the iPhone 7 Plus."

Forbes notes that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) came to a similar conclusion a few months ago, with a spokesperson for the watchdog claiming that the Note 7's body was "too large for the compartment of the phone."

Samsung has yet to return our request for comment.