Samsung has to be extra cautious regarding batteries in its future smartphones, especially after the exploding battery issues involving the Galaxy Note 7. The Korean giant’s image was completely tarnished by this scandal, forcing the company to recall every single phone from the market. Keeping its mistakes in mind, the company is currently engaged in talks with Japan’s Murata to secure a battery supply deal for its next-gen smartphone — Galaxy S8.
Batteries for the Galaxy Note 7 were sourced from Samsung’s own SDI along with China’s ATL as a secondary supplier. These two suppliers hurried the battery supply and that didn’t bode well for the company. Thus, the aforementioned change is being called into effect.
The battery situation was first reported by Nikkei, which further stated Murata’s plans to acquire Sony’s battery operations. The deal is said to be completed until April. As we all know, Sony introduced the world’s first commercial lithium-ion battery back in 1991. Since then, it’s been working constantly to further improve the technology. Sony batteries are preferred in the consumer market since they provide the needed energy efficiency and density.
Witnessing the reliability Sony offers, Samsung now plans to channelize the same in its own smartphones. The batteries will be baked into Samsung Galaxy S8. The device was earlier expected to make an appearance at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona; though it was recently clarified as just a rumor. Samsung now plans for an exclusive event in New York to be held by March end. As far as invitations for MWC are concerned, all the company proposes for this year’s event is a tablet. It will most likely be the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3.
Apart from battery concerns, Samsung has also called dibs on Snapdragon 835 chips until the phone’s release. As per reports, Samsung is grabbing the first fresh supply of Qualcomm’s new processors so as to hold off competition from entering the market. Moreover, it might force other smartphone players to equip their devices with older Snapdragon 821 chipset. The company has declined to comment on the matter.
With the rumor mill brimming around S8, a lot of expectations are tied up with its launch. One of most awaited features of this phone is the built-in artificial intelligence assistant, Bixby. It will be powered by Viv’s intelligence platform, summing up to become a threat for Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana.
