Samsung Electronics Co Ltd indicated yesterday that its latest flagship Galaxy S smartphone could be delayed as it pledged to enhance product safety following an investigation into the cause of fires in its premium Note 7 devices.

Wrapping up its months-long probe, the world’s top smartphone maker said faulty batteries from two suppliers were to blame for a product failure that wiped $5.3 billion off its operating profit.

Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said procedures had been put in place to avoid a repeat of the fires as the South Korean firm prepares to launch the Galaxy S8, its first premium handset since the Note 7’s demise.

“The lessons of this incident are deeply reflected in our cultureand process.

“Samsung Electronics will be working hard to regain consumer trust,”Koh told reporters.

Koh said the Galaxy S8 would not be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona beginning February 27, the traditional forum for Galaxy S series launches.

He did not comment on when the company planned to launch the handset, though analysts expect it to start selling by April.

Investors have said Samsung needs to reassure consumers that it is on top of the Note 7 problem and can be trusted to fix it.

Samsung’s reputation took a hammering after it announced a recall of fire-prone Note 7s, only for reports to emerge that replacement devices also caught fire.

Images of melted Samsung devices spread on social media and airlines banned travellers from carrying them on flights. The handset, Samsung’s answer to Apple Inc’s iPhones, was withdrawn from sale in October less than two months after its launch, in one of the biggest failures in tech history.

Samsung said later yesterday it had not decided whether to reuse parts in the recovered Note 7s or resell any recalled phones. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters reselling some Note 7s as refurbished phones was an option.

The firm said it has recovered 96 per cent of the 3.06 million Note 7s sold to consumers.

Investigations by internal and independent experts ruled out problems with the Note 7’s hardware and software. Instead, they said the batteries, which came from two suppliers, featured different manufacturing defects or design flaws that caused them to short-circuit.

“The odds that two different suppliers had issue with the same phone is an extremely low likelihood and may signal we have reached an inflection point in smartphone battery technology,” said Patrick Moorhead, president of technology analyst and advisory firm Moor Insights & Strategy.

Samsung did not name the suppliers yesterday but had previously identified them as affiliate Samsung SDI Co. Ltd and China’s Amperex Technology Ltd.

Samsung said it accepted responsibility and would not take legal action against the suppliers. The company touted longer battery life and fast charging as major improvements when it launched the Note 7.

Among other measures to boost safety, Samsung said it had implemented an eight-point battery check system to avoid any such problems going unnoticed again.

While it is widely expected to have bounced back from the Note 7 failure, experts remained cautious about the outlook for sales of future flagship devices.

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