Samsung’s refurbished Galaxy Note7, AKA the Note Fan Edition, was announced last month. But instead of excitement, everyone had one question in mind: Will it also explode?
Image: iFixit
Upon the announcement, it wasn’t clear what parts on the Note FE would be new and which would be old. The main concern was the potential reuse of old batteries which caused a series of phones to spontaneously combust last year. iFixit, however, has confirmed that the Note FE will have a completely new battery — so new it’s dated 20 June 2017 — which is great news for anybody looking to buy one.
iFixit’s teardown of the Note FE shows the new battery is smaller than the original Note 7 battery, which will grant more room between the heat-sealed protective pouch around the battery.
The Note FE’s battery, which is also removable, weighs 2.3g less than the original and measures 37.4 mm x 97.2 mm x 5.0 mm (the original measured 37.9 mm x 97.8 mm x 4.9 mm).
The new battery boasts a capacity of 12.32 Wh, compared to the original’s 13.48 Wh. However, it’s still bigger than the battery on the iPhone 7 Plus, iFixit notes, which offers 11.1 Wh.
Samsung said it will only produce a total of 400,000 Galaxy Note Fan Editions. The nine per cent reduction in battery size is supposedly enough to make the Note safe again, but only time will tell if the new model will also go down in flames.
[iFixit]