After a long investigation into the Samsung Galaxy S7 fire incidents, the South-Korean tech company concluded that it was the faulty batteries from two suppliers -- affiliate Samsung SDI Co Ltd and China's Amperex Technology Ltd – that caused the disaster and wiped off $5.3 billion from its operating profit.
Now that Samsung is all set to launch their next flagship model, the company is extra cautious about every inch of the device. Samsung is planning to 'diversify" its battery supplies for the Galaxy S8, reports say.
One of the companies tapped is the Kyoto-based Murata Manufacturing Company. Murata Manufacturing Company is the same name which acquired the rights for Sony's battery business last year. Apparently, Samsung is pretty impressed with the reliability and consistent performance of Sony's lithium-ion batteries, which have not caused any major issues since Sony sold its battery arm to Murata. So it's possible that this Kyoto-based tech company will be able to make explosion-proof batteries for Samsung.
Although, Murata is most definitely not the only supplier, rather not even the major one. Samsung SDI will still be the main supplier, which will be responsible for making 80 percent of the batteries, while Murata will make 2-8 percent of the batteries.
Now the question is, who is going to be the other supplier to replace Amperex Technology Ltd? Initially it was assumed that LG Chem would be the second supplier for Samsung's Galaxy S8 batteries, but that did not happen. Perhaps, that was a miscalculation among the other sources and it could be just Murata and Samsung SDI alone. Whatever suppliers Samsung choose this time, they better be good and safe.
