Samsung held a Global Strategy meeting in South Korea this week, during which it was apparently revealed that the launch the Samsung Galaxy S8 (or whatever it gets named) will be delayed from the typical late February event just before to Mobile World Congress. The likely replacement? A launch in New York City in April, where the company has held a number of major flagship releases (primarily from its Note line). We can’t say we’re surprised in the wake of the Note 7 issues; this has become a fairly persistent rumour, and it makes good sense too, though it would be a rather notable absence if Samsung were not to launch something at MWC; it has become a bit of a tradition that would be uncomfortable to break.
Along with the delayed launch of the next device, Samsung are reportedly close to striking a deal with LG Chem to supply the batteries for device. This is most likely more about avoiding questions about their own battery building abilities following the battery related combustion issues they had the the Note 7.
However, switching battery suppliers may not completely get Samsung off the hook, with the media at least, and maybe even consumers at large. As such, they are also planning on releasing the findings of their internal investigations into the Note 7 issues alongside the findings of Underwriters Laboratory, an independent US based non-profit lab. It will be interesting what this shows and how the delay and potential change in battery suppliers may be address any issues found.
Hopefully for Samsung all of these strategies will work and they will be able to return to the premium Android Smartphone market in 2017 with a fantastic device.
Would you give Samsung a go in 2017? Let us know below.
