When Samsung's ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 smartphone began catching fire in the hands of users, most folks chalked it up to a faulty battery. The Korean tech giant plans to divulge exactly what went wrong with its fiery phablet at a special press conference on Monday (Jan. 23), though a new report may already have given us the answer.
FYI: More recent Samsung phones could be hiding a dangerous battery problem.
Citing "people familiar with the matter," The Wall Street Journal reports that the Note 7 explosions were due to a mix of some batteries being irregularly sized and others having manufacturing issues. We'll know for sure whether or not that's the case when Samsung unveils the full results of its investigation in just a few days.
MORE: What to Expect From Samsung's Galaxy S8
The Note 7 launched in August to critical praise, with our own Mark Spoonauer calling it "the phablet to beat for power users willing to spend more to have it all" in his review. However, shortly after its release, multiple Note 7 owners reported that their device was spontaneously catching fire, leading to some serious injuries and the phone being banned on flights. Samsung officially recalled the smartphone in September.
With the colossal failure of the Note 7, there's more pressure than ever on Samsung to deliver a home run with its upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone. Samsung's next flagship is expected to launch in both 5.5-inch and 5.9-inch variations, possibly in hopes that the latter model will fill the void left by the company's faulty phablet. Other rumored features for the S8 include a dual-lens camera, a virtually all-screen design and a built-in virtual assistant dubbed Bixby.
The future of Samsung's smartphones should become clearer soon. Following the Note 7 press conference on Monday, the company's next big mobile event is expected to be the worldwide reveal of the Galaxy S8, which is rumored to happen sometime in April.
