Defective batteries led to Galaxy Note 7 fires: Samsung

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's investigation into the  cause of the Galaxy Note 7s bursting into flames had concluded that the battery was the main reason, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters today.

Samsung is expected to announce the results of the investigation on 23 January, a day before it announced detailed fourth-quarter earnings results, said the person who was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter and declined to be identified, Reuters reported.

Samsung would also announce the measures it was taking to avoid a repeat of the product safety failures in its future devices, the person said.

After the one of the biggest product safety failures in tech history, the company is keen to reassure users that its devices were safe ahead of the launch of flagship Galaxy S8 smartphones expected in the first half of this year.

According to investors and analysts, it was critical for Samsung to provide a detailed, convincing explanation on what went wrong with the Note 7 phones and how it would prevent such problems from recurring.

Reuters reported that according to its source Samsung had been able to replicate the fires during its investigation and that the cause for the fires could not be explained by hardware design or software-related matters.

Samsung had struggled to regain customer confidence after the incidents with the faulty phones.

The company stopped selling the device after it emerged that even the supposedly safer replacements it was providing for recalled Note 7 phones were catching fire.

Several well-documented instances across the globe were reported, that caused injuries to persons as young as 13 due to the spontaneous combustion.

However, the widespread criticism of Galaxy Note 7, had not deterred Samsung from revealing recently that it would be releasing a new Galaxy model - the S8.