Reports from the past few days have pointed to the fact that Samsung has completed its internal investigation on the Galaxy Note 7 and that the company sent the results to third-party laboratories.
The first recall of the Galaxy Note 7 was caused by a reportedly faulty battery in the smartphone, prompting units to catch fire. Samsung made the decision to withdraw and recall all Note 7 units that had batteries manufactured by Samsung SDI. The company then issued new batches of Note 7 phones with batteries made by Chinese company ATL, but the problem persisted and the Note 7 was finally discontinued.
However, Samsung didn’t kill the Galaxy Note line, which, together with the Galaxy S series, is one of the main smartphone lines from the South Korean company. For the Galaxy Note 8 set to be released next year, Samsung will be switching to a completely different battery supplier, LG Chem.
Chosun Ilbo reports that Samsung has been negotiating with LG Chem and that the two companies are close to signing a deal. It takes about six months to design, produce and test batteries for a new phone, which means that the first Samsung device with an LG battery would be the Note 8, seeing how the Galaxy S8 is set to arrive in February next year.
A Samsung executive has reportedly stated that there are 90% chances for the two companies to reach a deal. He added that "In the past, we tended to avoid buying products from LG out of pride. But we can no longer let our emotions get in the way and we need to make decisions based on business feasibility."
Samsung also contracted LG Display for LCD panels, following a voided deal with Japanese company Sharp. For those who don't know, LG Chem is a battery manufacturer for smartphones produced by LG Electronics and Apple.
