​Samsung to announce Note 7 fire cause on January 23

Samsung Electronics will announce the results of its investigations into what caused the Galaxy Note 7 to catch fire at a press conference hosted by its mobile boss next week, the company said.

DK Koh, head of the mobile business, will thoroughly explain what caused the phablet to catch fire and also announce the firm's preventive measures going forward, a Samsung spokesman said.

The South Korean tech giant ended sales of the Note 7 in October last year following repeated reports of the phones catching fire after initial sales began late August.

Koh, at a press conference in September, said the battery was the likely cause and announced a recall of the original batch. The second, updated batch continued to catch fire, however, forcing the firm to end the phone for good.

The company initially planned to announce the cause by the end of 2016, before being postponed.

Samsung will likely want to put the incident behind them before launching the Galaxy S8, its flagship phone for the spring, to quell worries of consumers.

The South Korean tech giant has been conducting internal tests since October, together with a local government-backed research institute, as well as the US' Underwriters Laboratory.

Earlier this month, the company began deploying a software update to cap battery charging to 15 percent for Note 7 users who have not returned their devices.

The company's vice chairman, Lee Jae-yong, is currently facing arrest for bribery charges by investigators for his involvement in a political scandal in South Korea involving the president.