Samsung to Close Deal With LG Chem for New Smartphone Batteries

Samsung is undoubtedly one of the most popular smartphone manufacturers in the world, with a great number of fans. Until now, it seemed that everything the company delivers, is high quality, at least for the devices’ price range. Unfortunately, after the release of the Galaxy Note 7, the company was faced with a huge problem: their flagship devices started to explode, being quite dangerous to use them. Even though the company recalled the smartphones and replaced them with other devices, soon these started to act out too. According to reports, the cause of this problem was the Note 7’s battery, which tended to overheat.

According to Reuters, based on information coming from Nikkei newspaper, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd decided to go another way with next year’s models and is in talks with LG Chem Ltd to supply the new batteries. Up until now, the South Korean company relied on its subsidiary, Samsung SDI Co Ltd for this matter. The subsidiary company was  in charge of supplying batteries for the Galaxy Note 7 in the most part. Given the recent events, it’s only natural that the smartphone manufacturer will choose another battery supplier for their upcoming smartphones. After all, the failure of the Galaxy Note 7 resulted in a foreseeable $3 billion profit hit for the company. Even for Samsung, that is a large sum of money.

If negotiations go well and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd seals the deal with LG Chem Ltd, the latter will start supplying the batteries for next year’s smartphones, most likely starting with the upcoming Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Edge. These are expected to be announced at the MWC 2017 that will take place in Barcelona, Spain, at the end of February. The South Korean company really needs this model to make up for the mistakes they made with the Note 7, so the S8 and S8 Edge should be flawless. Or at least, not prone to explode.

Neither company officially confirmed they were in talks, so we must consider this information a rumor until it is backed through the official channels. However, it’s safe to say that it would make perfect sense for Samsung to change their battery supplier in the light of the recent events.