1st

alexmac said:

There is another solution. Due to Samsung states they are water proof, why don't put them in a transparent bag filled with water?

"In what way and in what form does lithium react with water?

Lithium reacts intensely with water, forming lithium hydroxide and highly flammable hydrogen. The colourless solution is highly alkalic. The exothermal reactions lasts longer than the reaction of sodium and water, which is directly below lithium in the periodic chart.

2 Li(s) + 2 H2O -> 2 LiOH (aq) + H2(g)

(1) laid few (dozen) off from the mix of 1000 is far from "shut down" - unless those are  key personnel.  not position, but tech skill.  Did I miss something?  I  would need more info than the article provided to assessing the conclusion those authors. 
(2) there are many competitors in the field that ahead in product development.  it is not valid concern: ipod days, there were many mp3 players, but no ipod.  Personally, i believe the key issue for self driving car is not resolved - you got optical (camera), IR, radar, ultrasound, approximity sensor of various kind.  so much data need to process, what are critical - what are noise - in relation to the navigation and safety are not yet even remotely defined (not like the insect eye - only detect the moving predator).  so far, the array of sensor still facing challenges for basic weather elements.
(3) I do like apple making design of car - hopefully, it would be beautiful (matter of fact, I do like Mac-Pro - love the efficiency of thermal management, space allocation and classic industry look), hardware software integrated with seamless (not like many enfosys, you know it was after thought).  an x-bow type light weight plus reliable gps controlled car may be good enough for me to hand in my drivers license - wait... do I still need it to vote for president ? 
(4) yes, look like few key pieces for self driving car are still missing, semi-self like half baked cake.  a lot need to be done, more needed as integration.  it is always hard to bring different field together, hardware/software/AI/mechanical.... a lot need to be learned from NASA how to integrate team.
(5) self drive car tech is not mature, the fault may causes life lost possibility (a bit less in term of risk factor than airplane - you can not afford to re-set, re-boot, stalled in mid air).  Better be good, not just good enough.  Sammy's boom battery , regardless design/mfg fault should be counted at risk mitigation review for car...hopefully, apple car not use too much Li - just not enough out there in the world.
Looking forward to see what come out from apple car - icar?

Herbivore2 said:

Samsung's engineers should be better than this. In their quest to outdo the iPhone, they must be taking design shortcuts. 
... 

Apple's hardware is still in a class of its own. The fact that Samsung and Microsoft are experiencing these types of problems speaks volumes of Apple's expertise. 

i thought it was 3rd party cheap cable.... when you go for fast charging, resistor and shielding are important... low cost 3rd party stuff sounds like playing fire to me.  Especially, there are lesson learned by engineer before.  I guess you really need  to educate your customer base to avoid knock  off accessories, like cables and chargers (use to be counterfit  batteries).  http://www.cnet.com/news/usb-type-c-cable-problems/
regadless samsung or apple, the problem is how to get the chaps not using the low cost stuff.  

nice article.  however, disagree with the statement of "Much of the work that Apple needs to do is simply refinement of existing technologies".  The VR and AR are both computational intensive for the hardware/software.  The existing technologies failed following: (1) non of existing vendor control both, even microsoft. components avalibility limited the progress, including weight of battery- major short coming to optimization and scale down the required computational intensity.  if apple follow the existing tech, it will fall into the same trap.  (2) AR and VR application was hindered by illness - true, not only the delay (related to item 1), but also the eye focal range.  Similar problem occur with projective overlay for pilot or some of night vision garggles.  Better understanding of image overlay and human eye integration will required.  (3) Resolution of display image that provide realistic environment at cost still a challenge.  Software may be able to somewhat compensate the short coming, but not all... the edge of the eyes are extremely sensitvie to the movement due to evolution that prevent us to be eaten by predator must be taking into consideration.  (4) application, educational VR are very useful... "XXXX - go" game are fun, but provide a glimpse of what can be achieved... get kids move to support 1st lady's motivation to get amarican fit again didn't get me to pull out of my money from the pocket - money is very tight here.  etc. etc. Apple, please, please learn from the existing technology and see why those guys are fail to delivery and provide us with NEW technology that leap and bound to next level.   i am keep my fingers and legs all crossed ;-).  - may be learn from the insect, only some image part is important?