Eager to move on from its disastrous 2016 with the Galaxy Note 7’s now infamous recall, it’s no surprise Samsung is planning to up its game this year.
After losing $5 billion and slipping from the number one smartphone spot down to number five in Asia-Pacific behind Apple and Huawei, the company knew it had to figure out a way to get past being thought of as the company that manufactured explosive smartphones.
To help alter its image, Samsung is releasing its next phone next month in New York. Dubbed the Galaxy S8, Samsung is really expanding its innovative boundaries in terms of features and capabilities.
Word around the rumor mill is that the smartphone giant will be removing its home button and embracing the virtual assistant arena with the introduction of Bixby. Although there’s a possibility of these particulars changing, there’s also talk of a fingerprint scanner on the back to unlock the device and a curved-screen shape.
With all of these new features, including the decision to keep the phone jack, Samsung is hoping this new phone will relaunch the brand. After a long investigation into why its Galaxy Note 7 caught fire in many customers’ hands last year, Samsung concluded it was because of the type of batteries used. To avoid this moving forward, it has decided to work with its battery making partner, Samsung SDI Co., on safety.
It’s through this partner that Samsung spent $130 million to boost its product safety. To further embolden its vision to provide a safe product to consumers everywhere, Samsung also launched an X-ray inspection process for all its smartphone batteries.
Another area Samsung is hoping to help enhance its damaged image is in the newly competitive arena of artificial intelligence (AI). Through the addition of its new virtual assistant Bixby, its acquisition of AI platform company Viv Labs Inc. and the multiple new AI job postings to its site, it’s safe to say Samsung is fully invested in reclaiming the smartphone leader throne.
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