Samsung to release results of Galaxy Note 7 probe Jan. 23

SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. plans to announce the results of its investigation next Monday into what caused the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to overheat and catch fire, company officials said Monday.

Details of the results were not known. However, a failure in the inspection and measurement of the batteries used in the Note 7 is believed to be blamed for the problem, despite the Note 7's ambitious design with advanced features such as an iris scanner and curved display.

An industry observer said Samsung might have failed to change the inspection process for the batteries when it changed the manufacturing process for the Note 7.

Samsung decided to discontinue the Note 7 in October last year after recalling millions of the devices worldwide over safety concerns.

Koh Dong-jin, head of Samsung's smartphone business division, will announce the results of its probe into the Note 7, a company official said.

"To regain confidence from consumers, we will clearly point out what caused the Galaxy Note 7 to catch fire and announce follow-up measures," the official said.

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