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Our Samsung Galaxy S6 was disfigured and ruined by a faulty battery

Galaxy s6 back taking off 4
© nextpit

Several weeks ago, we discovered a shocking problem with our in-office Galaxy S6. For no known reason, the back cover began peeling off. After several weeks of inquiry and chasing Samsung, we've been told that the source of the problem was a faulty battery. Read on to hear what Samsung had to say about the issue.

For the most part the Galaxy S6 has been a hit, but there have been a few pretty shocking hardware issues reported here and there. In Korea, for example, a Galaxy S6 user reported a couple of months ago that a swelling battery disfigured his device.

samsung galaxy s6 tampa descolando
The mystery of why our Galaxy S6 back cover came unstuck has been solved. / © ANDROIDPIT

Initially, when the rear of our Galaxy S6 came unstuck, we thought it was to do with poorly applied adhesive (read more about it in our Galaxy S6 problems piece). But now, Samsung has told us that our issue was indeed the same one as that reported by the Korean user. Here is the official statement from Samsung (translated from German):

"July 10, 2015 - Thank you again for your inquiry and submission of your S6. After testing in our laboratory, we have found that the cause for unsticking the back of your Galaxy S6 was a minimal expansion of the battery.

Expansion of the battery had occurred very rarely during pre-production. The defect was fixed prior to series production of the Samsung Galaxy S6."

AndroidPIT Samsung Galaxy S6 smart manager
Despite our traumatic experience, the Galaxy S6 remains one of our favorite phones. / © ANDROIDPIT

So there we have it. Apparently our Galaxy S6 review sample was anomalous, although there have been a few reports of it happening for other Galaxy S6 users around the world. We always thought that the Galaxy S6 would be better off with a removable back cover, so the lesson learned here is 'be careful what you wish for'.

Has this issue made you think twice about the Galaxy S6? Or are you still going to take the (very small) gamble and get one? Based on our Galaxy S6 review and how much we loved it, we'd probably still take the punt.

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Robert Zak

Robert Zak
UK Editor

A tech aficionado since he first picked up a NES controller, Robert has written about technology, videogames, and film across a range of sites and magazines, including Den of Geek, Gamasutra, and Computeractive. At AndroidPIT, he'll be bringing you the latest Android news and reviews from the front line in the UK.

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6 comments
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  • 1
    msdickerson Jun 29, 2020 Link to comment

    We had 2 S6s and both have been ruined by battery "minimal" expansion. Both - that is 100% of those S6s we bought.


  • Jed Gorrell 1
    Jed Gorrell Apr 17, 2017 Link to comment

    If this is preproduction my phone is 20 months old and has just started too split like a sandwich both the front and the back are leaving home and down both long edges, it will soon be in three separate parts , looks like the life of the batteries is limited and they are going to fail by catching fire rather than just dying , beware of the new S8 for what lies down the road after the 7 note fiasco what are Samsung doing with their batteries and who is going to pay? maybe with a life for their lack of due care for their end user


  • 1
    Brittany Jul 28, 2015 Link to comment

    This actually happened to me a week or so ago. I noticed that the back glass and the front glass were starting to separate on the phone on the left side only. I was pretty upset considering I only had it for a couple weeks and bought it brand new. I called Samsung and let them know about this issue. They sent me a free ups label and asked me to send my phone in for repair. They sent me the service report during repair saying the phone had a faulty battery. They replaced the lcd and the battery. The whole process from shipping and repair to return shipping only took a little over a week. I was happy to know that this was covered under their 1 year manufacturer warranty. I'm happy it was fixed but the idea of an expanding battery is moderately unsettling.


  • Mark G. 28
    Mark G. Jul 11, 2015 Link to comment

    It appears that the problem was on pre production "tester" phones.

    Though you would presume that the process of making the battery would be the same pre/post main production. You would also presume that the process of making the battery would be the same for all Galaxy products (different capacity and shape aside).

    Dwarfer66


  • 4
    Miguel Gonçalves Jul 11, 2015 Link to comment

    I prefer the Huawei P8.


  • Dwarfer66 25
    Dwarfer66 Jul 11, 2015 Link to comment

    Going from a S4 to the S6 edge, wow what a phone, got the 64gb version and don't for one minute miss the sd card slot.

    Running CarHDRom one the S6 edge.

    Brian Cooke

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