Galaxy S8 Will Feature Huge Changes To Overcome Note 7 Fiasco

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As the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 saga takes a new devastating twist, many people are wondering what comes next for the Korean tech giant.

Now that owners of the Galaxy Note 7 have been told to switch off their phones to prevent them from catching fire, Samsung has been plunged into crisis. However the company could have a chance to salvage its reputation with the Galaxy S8 smartphone. Now Korean news site ET News says that Samsung is “paying extra careful attention” to the upcoming smartphone.

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Galaxy S8 to bring innovative features

It appears that Samsung is giving extra thought to the development of the Galaxy S8 to try and avoid problems similar to the Note 7. The latter smartphone has a battery issue that has made various handsets burst into flames.

According to ET News the upcoming Galaxy S8 will also see some “huge changes” such as a home button that is found underneath the glass panel of the display. Samsung will also reportedly give the upcoming smartphone an all-display front surface with minimal borders, a new Snapdragon 830 processor made by Qualcomm and a dual-lens camera.

It has previously been reported that Samsung was looking to develop the Galaxy S8 as quickly as possible in order to replace the Note 7. However with these changes in mind and extra motivation to get things right, it seems unlikely that the company would take any chances and rush things.

A report in the Korea Herald in September claimed that the best way to deal with the Note 7 crisis would be to release the Galaxy S8 ahead of schedule. Now this course of action appears to be less wise.

Testing new features incredibly important for Samsung

In fact one theory about the cause of the Note 7 fiasco is that its development was rushed. The thinking was that the company could steal a march on Apple by releasing the Note 7 before the U.S. company announced its iPhone 7.

Even if this is not the case it would appear sensible for Samsung to do everything it can to properly test the Galaxy S8 hardware before launch. This is especially important if there will be lots of new features as some people are predicting.

Another interesting point is that a press invite to the Samsung event at MWC has been leaked to GSMArena. The document suggests that the Note 7 problems will not affect Samsung’s plans for the Galaxy S8.

At this stage this remains pure speculation. The only way for us to know exactly what Samsung is going to do is when an official announcement is made by the company itself. For now we can amuse ourselves with speculation, and feel slightly sorry for the negative impact of the ongoing problems on Apple’s biggest rival.

What next for the smartphone market?

Samsung had in fact become the biggest selling smartphone manufacturer in the key U.S. market, at the expense of Apple. However that does not look set to last given the problems with multiple Note 7 devices exploding.

Although the problem was recognized by the company, which recalled all of the handsets, things soon got worse. Samsung then released what it said were safe Galaxy Note 7 handsets, which were later found to suffer the same problem as the previous version.

Making a mistake once could be excused by the vast majority of people. The supposedly safe handsets were in fact selling strongly once they were released.

However making the same mistake twice is something that consumers are unlikely to forget. This is especially true when the fault in question put users themselves in danger.

Note 7 to be consigned to history

Samsung has now told Galaxy Note 7 owners to switch off their phones due to a fire risk. For a phone that was billed as a potential iPhone killer it is something of a tragic end. It’s also a shame for Android fans who wanted a high-powered alternative to the iPhone.

If Samsung can come back as strong as ever with the Galaxy S8 then we may be able to write off the Note 7 as an anomaly. The alternative is almost unthinkable for Samsung.

Should consumers be turned off the brand due to safety concerns, it could start to see far lower sales in its smartphone business. Competition could ultimately suffer, and with it the standard of innovation in smartphone technology.

No one wants to see an Apple monopoly on smartphones, least of all Android users. For many different reasons it must be hoped that the Galaxy S8 is a safe, innovative handset that users will want to buy.

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