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Samsung acknowledges Galaxy Note 8 battery problems, says very few phones are affected

Published Jan 1st, 2018 9:11AM EST
BGR

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A few days ago, we heard that various Galaxy Note 8 users are experiencing an unexpected battery issue. Some handset owners discovered that their devices won’t turn on after the battery had been completely depleted. Since then, Samsung has acknowledged the issue, saying that only a limited number of units were affected. And that’s probably true.

Reports of the issue first surfaced in late December, but the phone had already been available in stores for almost a full quarter at that point. In other words, considering that Samsung must have sold millions of units in the three months leading to Christmas, we’d have heard about this much soon if it was a significant battery problem. And that goes double for the Galaxy Note 8, given the Galaxy Note 7 disaster.

“Samsung is taking all reports of this kind seriously, we only received a very small number of customer inquiries that could be linked to charge management, and unfortunately we can only comment on the matter further,” Samsung said, according to a report by German-language site PCWelt.

It’s unclear what’s causing this strange battery issue, and how it can be prevented. At least the phone doesn’t catch on fire, not that you should be worried about such accidents. Samsung proved that it really learned from its past mistakes when it comes to poor battery design and quality assurance. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, are a testament to that. Not to mention all the other budget Android phones that Samsung has released since the Note 7 issues, including the cheaper Note 7 FE.

It’s likely that Samsung will fix the issues down the road. But if you’re a Galaxy Note 8 user, you should make sure your data is backed up regularly. There’s no way of knowing whether your phone suffers from the same condition unless you completely drain the battery. So your best option is to always recharge your phone before it’s completely drained, at least until Samsung provides more answers about the matter.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.