14 DAY TRIAL // The Galaxy Note 7 drama is forcing Samsung to make changes that it didn’t necessarily plan before phone batteries started catching fire, and now rumor has it that the company is negotiating with LG Chem over a possible deal for the Galaxy S8.
It’s not yet clear if the Samsung Galaxy S8 would be the firm’s only flagship next year - the future of the Note series is believed to be in doubt - but if it is, it’s no surprise that Samsung not only wants to get everything right but it also can’t afford another Note 7 moment.
As a result, Samsung is trying to play the safe card and is now interested in stepping away from companies that supplied the Note 7 batteries, including here its own in-house Samsung SDI unit and ATL.
According to Korea Herald, Samsung is negotiating with LG Chem a possible deal that would have them provide the batteries for the Galaxy S8, but at the same time, it’s believed that the firm is looking into some other options too.
The Note 7 overheating battery case
In Note 7’s case, the Samsung SDI batteries were initially believed to be at fault for the phones bursting into flames, so the South Korean firm recalled the first units and replaced them with units powered by batteries manufactured by ATL.
Shortly after the recall kicked off and customers started receiving units labeled as “safe,” reports of overheating batteries began surfacing again, even on phones equipped with ATL cells.
Samsung and several other organizations are still conducting investigations to determine the cause of these phones catching fire, so an official reason is not yet available.
What’s very clear, however, is that Samsung isn’t taking any risk for the upcoming Galaxy S8, and changing the battery supplier seems to be the first logical step in this direction.
Leaks that have already reached the web in the past few weeks indicated that the Samsung Galaxy S8 could launch in late February with substantial upgrades, including a dual-camera configuration and an iris scanner that would provide better photo quality and enhanced security, respectively.