SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) — Samsung Electronics indicated on Monday (January 23) that its latest flagship Galaxy S smartphone could be delayed as it pledged to enhance product safety following an investigation into the cause of fires in its premium Note 7 devices.
Wrapping up its months-long probe into the cause of the Note 7 debacle, the world’s top smartphone maker said faulty batteries from two suppliers were to blame for the failure of the Note 7, which wiped $5.3 billion off its operating profit.
Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said procedures had been put in place to avoid a repeat of the fires, as investors look to the launch of the South Korean tech giant’s first premium handset since the Note 7, the Galaxy S8, some time this year.
“We have taken a new approach to battery designing and manufacturing methods,” he said during a news conference, adding that it was manufacturing and design defects in Note 7 batteries that caused them to short-circuit.
“Taking this incident as an opportunity, we have strengthened our determination. From now on, we will put first priority on product quality and customer safety.”
However Koh said the Galaxy S8 would not be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona, which begins on Feb. 27, the traditional forum for Samsung premium product launches. He did not comment on when the company planned to launch the new handset.
Investors have been looking to the investigation into the Note 7 debacle – in which images of melted Samsung devices spread on social media and airlines banned travellers from carrying them on flights – to reassure consumers that the company is on top of them problem and can be trusted to fix it.
Samsung’s reputation took a battering after it announced a recall of fire-prone Note 7s, only for reports to emerge that replacement devices also caught fire.
The handset, Samsung’s answer to Apple Inc’s iPhones, was withdrawn from sale in October less than two months after its launch, in one of the biggest tech failures in tech history.