An unlikely-to-happen view from a different perspective - if other manufacturers' devices exhibit the same issue, we could probably, just probably, start having devices with removable batteries. The airlines could charge passengers to have the batteries stowed away in a "safe" condition (whatever it takes to keep them from catching fire even when isolated).
I'm not the first to think about or wish for this. Many sites have (coincidentally) mentioned or wondered about the same.
The battery in the Note 3 is fairly easy to remove without tools.
Of course, the battery is not much smaller than the phone itself, and removing it exposes the terminals of the battery, making it easier to accidentally short circuit etc. - it's probably safer to leave the battery in the device where it's already contained in one layer of generally non-combusting material.
It will be interesting if any major air carriers decide to ban the brand from flight.
with regards to your comment the industry should strive to show otherwise and there should not be any reason to not be able to predict this type of failure occurring at the device level. there certainly have to be some telltale signs that are detectable
Starting a fire is a manageable problem (the fire can be contained and put out). I doubt you can stage an effective terrorist attack with a laptop battery.
It doesn't seem to matter that the phone is powered down, as shown by this incident on a South West airlines flight where the Note 7 caught fire after it was powered down.
Here's an excerpt from an interview by The Verge on this incident [1]:
"Green said that he had powered down the phone as requested by the flight crew and put it in his pocket when it began smoking."
Anything with a dense energy source is somehow problematic in a closed space in the sky. Maybe they'll force people to put batteries somewhere safe during the flight, and offering safe power lines on seats. Reminds me of new high speed trains that have usb sockets in the back of each seat so people can charge or use their devices.
Wouldn't it need to be a pretty big battery to exhibit anything close to "bomb"-like energy release? With a laptop-sized battery, you could probably get an explosion big enough to injure one person, or start a fire, but I doubt you'd be able to compromise the airplane significantly.
https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/hazmat_safety/more_inf...