After the spectacular battery failures that marred the Note 7, it is understandable that Samsung may be looking at other sources to acquire batteries for its upcoming smartphones. If a report by Chosun Ilbo is to be believed, Samsung is looking to acquire smartphone batteries from its rival LG.
The report quoted an industry official as saying that Samsung Electronics and LG Chem Ltd will strike a deal that would see Samsung procuring batteries from LG Chem beginning from the second half of 2017. Should the deal be struck, of which there is a 90% chance of happening, LG Chem would be Samsung’s newest battery supplier aside from Samsung SDI and China’s Amperex Technology. Considering the fact that LG Chem has been manufacturing phone batteries for both LG and Apple for a while now, Samsung’s decision to approach LG for its batteries isn’t exactly surprising.
Neither Samsung nor LG have commented on the report thus far, so you should take this report with a grain of salt for now.
Source: Reuters