The Galaxy Note7 was marred by a variety of issues, the most notorious of which was its tendency to explode during charging. This problem reared its head shortly after it launched in 2016 and was promptly recalled by Samsung. Since then the company unveiled the Galaxy S8, and has received critical acclaim for it, which pushed the boundaries of a bezel-free design.
Earlier this year, Samsung announced that it would release the Note7 again, but with reworked internals in its home country of South Korea, and rename it to "Fan Edition". The device would essentially be the same as the doomed Note7, and iFixit confirmed as much during their latest device teardown.
The Fan Edition features a smaller battery, down from the problematic 3500mAh, to a new 3200mAh cell. This increases the internal space where the battery could expand into, which is normal for any lithium ion battery during everyday use, as this was pegged as the cause behind the overheating issues as Wired"s Tim Moynihan explained:
In the case of batteries sourced from Samsung SDI, there wasn’t enough room between the heat-sealed protective pouch around the battery and its internals. In the worst scenarios, that caused electrodes inside each battery to crimp, weaken the separator between the electrodes, and cause short circuiting.
In the case of batteries sourced from Amperex Technology Limited, some cells were missing insulation tape, and some batteries had sharp protrusions inside the cell that led to damage to the separator between the anode and cathode. The batteries also had thin separators in general, which increased the risks of separator damage and short circuiting.
The device also features a reworked antenna for the Korean market, as it only launched there in limited quantities. Beyond that, it weighs 2.3 grams less than the original, mainly due to the smaller battery. It will also feature the Bixby assistant that debuted with the recent Galaxy S8 launch.
It went on sale with a retail price of around $617 (KRW 699,600), which some have pegged as excessive for a refurbished device. So far it has not had any reported issues, and Samsung is widely expected to unveil the successor to the Note7 next month and might have already teased it in one of their latest tweets.