Samsung rules out early release of Galaxy S8 after Note 7 crisis

A woman looks at her mobile phone as she rides an escalator past an advertisement for Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 device at a Samsung store in the Gangnam district of Seoul. [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL - Amid its ongoing Galaxy Note 7 smartphone safety crisis, mobile industry giant Samsung said it will release its next flagship Galaxy S8 on schedule in late February.

"Currently we do not have any plans to release Galaxy S8 early," reported South Korean media ETNews on Tuesday quoting an unnamed high-ranking official of Samsung.

The official described a widely speculated early release of its next generation smartphone Galaxy S8 "realistically impossible" even after the company stopped selling its current flagship Galaxy Note 7 over safety concern.

Galaxy S8 is expected to be launched on Feb 26, 2017, one day ahead of the opening of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. In the past couple of years, the South Korean conglomerate kept the "routine" of releasing its new devices right before the world's largest mobile industry exhibition.

But market began to cast doubt on Galaxy S8's release date as the company has been dealing with an unprecedented consumer safety crisis caused by the Galaxy Note 7, its most advanced phone ever.

After multiple reports of phones overheating or catching fire, Samsung recalled around 2.5 million Note 7 smartphones in September.

Earlier this month, the firm had to recall the replacement devices after finding them also prone to catch fire. Samsung later announced its decision to scrap the whole model less than two months after the flagship smartphone's debut.

While an early release of Galaxy S8 has been ruled out, talk of a possible delayed launch remains.

Quoting a Galaxy S8 development team member, the Wall Street Journal said on Sunday that the development of the new smartphone has been delayed by two weeks as engineers are working to dig out the cause of Note 7's overheating problem.