The Biggest Technology Failures of 2016

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Samsung’s smartphones caught on fire this year. And not in a good way. After about 35 reports of phones overheating (one smoking phone caused the evacuation a Southwest Airlines flight), Samsung told anyone with a Galaxy Note 7 to “power it down immediately” and return it. When some replacements also ignited, Samsung decided to stop manufacturing the phablet-sized phone altogether and recall 2.5 million of the devices. The company blamed assembly defects that caused the phone’s lithium-ion battery to overheat.