Samsung SDI Supplying Galaxy S8’s Battery Despite Note 7 Disaster, Spending $128M For Better Phone Batteries

Samsung SDI aims to improve the tech giant's smartphone batteries and they are willing to shell out more than a million dollars for it. A new report claimed the company's battery manufacturing division will invest $128 million for better and stronger battery safety.

The report came from Business Korea, saying that Samsung SDI is aiming for innovation after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. The device was widely recalled after users reported of exploding batteries.

The $128 million investment will require the biggest group of workers at Samsung SDI. A total of 100 executives and employees will work in three separate teams: development, production, and technology, quality and verification.

Samsung SDI President Cho Nam-Seong admitted that much is at stake with the division's $128 million investment. He said that they are currently "standing at the crossroads of life and death of the company" and their fate could only go two ways: "a complete overhaul or fade into the mists of history."

A Samsung SDI spokesperson said that the new batteries will likely be used in the tech giant's next smartphones specifically in the next-generation flagship device, the Galaxy S8. This means that Samsung trusts its battery division enough for the big launch of the Galaxy S8. It's also possible that Samsung SDI's next batteries will be present in the Galaxy Note 8.

Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile chief, said that the Galaxy S8 will not be launched at the Mobile World Congress 2017 trade show in Barcelona, Spain that will start on Feb. 27. However, there are expectations that the handset would hit store shelves in April. With this, there's still ample time for Samsung to manufacture safer and better batteries for the Galaxy S8 and their succeeding smartphones.

The Galaxy S8 will reportedly have both a headphone jock and a desktop jock, The Verge reported. Other rumored specs include a Snapdragon 835 processor, microSD card support, USB-C and a new "DeX" dock that converts the phone into a desktop computer-esque Android device.

Samsung confirmed that the Note 7's battery is to be blamed for the explosions. The company said that the Note 7's battery came from two suppliers, and they carried different defects and design faults that eventually led to short-circuiting and then catching fire. The company has recalled 96 percent of the 3.06 million Note 7 handsets bought by consumers, Reuters reported.