It appears Samsung is finally owning up to battery issues with the Galaxy Note 8, S8 and S8+. The issue seems to be with devices that are fully discharged to 0%. I’ve run into this problem twice now with my Galaxy S8 and sadly have run into it with my Note 8. For most people, they will probably never experience discharging their phones completely. It’s a habit to recharge your phone before it gets to 0% which is why most people won’t experience their phones not being able to turn back on after a discharge. Samsung even admitted to this issue to the press today.
Unfortunately for me, as a tech writer, I have to switch phones frequently. That means I sometimes let phones discharge and first encountered my S8 not taking a charge or powering on over a month ago. Naturally, I assumed there was a manufacturing flaw with my S8 so I sent it in for service. My S8 came back and powered on, on Samsung had also replaced my display as there was an issue with that too. I powered it on, assuming it was fixed and let the battery drain to empty again. I didn’t try powering it back on until today when I read the reports about Samsung acknowledging charging issues with its phones and found that it wouldn’t take a charge and also wouldn’t power on, again.
I also recently switched from the Note 8 to the Pixel 2 XL and the iPhone X and let my Note 8 drain to zero remaining battery. Keep in mind, I didn’t know about this being a real issue, otherwise, I wouldn’t have let either of the phones discharge. I tried powering on the Note 8 today and ran into the same issue where it wouldn’t turn on.
After contacting online support, they informed me I need to send both phones in for repair. While Samsung has admitted this issue has only occurred with a small number of devices, I would venture to guess it’s happening much more than it is letting on, or it hasn’t happened to many people yet because they haven’t let their phones completely discharge.
Until Samsung investigates this issue further, I highly recommend you don’t let your phones discharge to zero. In my experience, three out of three times my phones have not been able to turn back on. It takes Samsung up to two weeks to get the phones fixed and back in your hands, which alone is aggravating because most people don’t have backup phones like I do. This is one instance where Apple beats Samsung because Apple has retail shops that can fix its phones within an hour.
As a side note, my S8 and Note 8 are unlocked devices. Carrier phones may not experience the same issue. If your phone has any chance of dying before you can get to a charger, I suggest grabbing a battery case pack or a standard battery pack from Amazon to keep your device charged.
If your S8, S*+ or Note 8 has experienced this issue, make sure to contact Samsung customer support to get your issue resolved.
i Don’t let my Samsung Galaxy note 8
drop to 0 battery to save my phone