Samsung was looking for a successful 2016 with its two flagship devices the Galaxy S7 and Note 7. However, things did not go into plan. It was a few months ago when the exploding Galaxy Note 7 hit the news. The whole debacle led the Korean-based company to discontinue the device altogether. The tech giant also had to set up an investigation that involved outside experts. Samsung is expected to announce the probe's findings before the end of this year.

The tech giant initially thought that the explosions were caused by the faulty batteries. Millions of Galaxy Note 7 units were recalled. The company hired China's ATL services instead of its sister firm Samsung SDI to produce the replacement batteries. It became evident that Samsung was wrong as it turned out that the replaced Note 7 phones were still catching fire.

The company had to issue another global recall and eventually decided to terminate the production of the infamous Note 7, according to BGR. Though the battery is considered to be the ignition point, there might be other factors that have triggered the explosions.

The Korea Herald reported back in November that Samsung had asked the help of product safety authorities and experts from both Korea and the US. The findings of their investigation should be released later this year. This information was disclosed by industry sources. They added that the fate of the phone depends on the result of the probe. Most importantly, it will also decide how the Samsung's brand will fare among customers. If the report is true, Samsung might want to earn back the trust of their loyal customers before the launch of the highly-anticipated Galaxy S8 early next year.

There have been rumors that Samsung might sell refurbished Note 7 once the exact problem has been determined and fixed. Sources said that the disposal of the returned phones "would cause huge financial and environmental costs". Apparently, Samsung was able to sell around 4.3 million units of Galaxy Note 7 worldwide since its release on August.

Amidst the whole fiasco of Samsung's failed device, the smartphone maker is able to survive with the success of the high-end Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge phones. The company's affordable J-series devices are also selling well. The global research firm International Data Corporation previously released a preliminary data of total smartphone shipments for the third quarter of 2016.

Samsung still maintained its dominance in the said market with 72.5 million units shipped compared to last year's 83.8 million units. Apple came second with 45.5 million units down from 48 million units in the third quarter of 2015. The two biggest rivals had market shares of 20.0 percent and 12.5 percent. It remains to be seen if this will change in the fourth quarter of 2016.