Some Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8 Plus units may be dying after hitting 0 percent charge

The Galaxy Note 8 may have a safe battery that’s run through many tests to ensure that fire hazard isn’t an issue, but it looks like some Note 8 units are refusing to power on once they reach 0% battery charge. Quite a few Note 8 owners have taken to the Samsung community and forums on sites like Android Central to complain that their Note 8 stopped working after they let the battery drain completely. Samsung has been offering replacements, but like many other issues with its flagships, the company hasn’t officially confirmed or released a statement on why this might be happening.

To make things worse, Samsung seems to be replacing bricked units with refurbished devices, which seems a little strange considering every Note 8 would be covered by warranty just a couple of months after its release. Owners of the device from US carriers seem to be most affected, so it’s possible it’s only the Snapdragon variant of the phone that’s at risk. The problem doesn’t seem to be too widespread, but it’s still interesting to see that a phone can fail to boot just because its owner might have used it until the battery ran out.

It’s also unclear if this is a hardware or software issue. Some users report that their phone does show the charging circle when connected to a power source but refuses to actually charge, while others say the phone gets warm when connected but the screen remains blank. It’s a similar theme with wireless charging: the blue charging light on the charger comes up, but the phone remains unresponsive, suggesting the software might be to blame.

No known fix at this point

If the fault’s in the software, it’s possible it was introduced in a recent software update. There’s no way to tell and no known fix, and the only way to keep the phone in working condition right now is to ensure it’s plugged in before the battery charge reaches 0 percent. If your Note 8 does run out of juice and refuses to power up, be sure to contact Samsung to request a replacement. We’ll try looking into more such reports to see just how widespread the issue is; at this point, it’s looking like one of those problems that can affect any device, especially since there’s at least one Galaxy S8+ owner who seems to have encountered the same phone-bricking bug.

Update, (12/27) 17:49: According to a number of our readers in the comments, as well as a friend of Android Authority’s, the Galaxy S8 Plus is experiencing similar battery issues. We’ll investigate this issue further.

It’s now just over a year since Samsung prematurely killed off the Galaxy Note 7 after a batch of defective batteries caused numerous devices to “explode” – in the process doing immeasurable damage to the Note brand and forcing the South Korean giant to overhaul its battery safety checks.

Since then, the Galaxy S8, S8 Plus and, most significantly, the reborn Note 8 have been praised by fans and reviewers alike, have sold by the bucketload, and have avoided any major battery problems on the scale of the Note 7 debacle.

While it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as dangerous, Samsung may have another battery related headache on its hands, however, as some Galaxy Note 8 are reporting that their phones are refusing to accept any charge.

According to a number of users on Samsung’s Community Forums (via PiunikaWeb), the issue occurs after the phone falls to 0% battery and switches off. At this point, affected Note 8 devices apparently won’t accept charge and become completely unresponsive. This includes the LED charging light in most cases.

One user even recorded a video showing an attempt to revive a defective phone to no avail. Many of the impacted users have also tried several charging cables and attempted to reboot the dead phone in safe mode, but most have had no success.

Thankfully, Samsung is responding to those affected in most cases. In one thread, a moderator going by the handle ‘SamsungMel’ is advising customers to return their faulty phones for a warranty replacement, saying that “this particular problem with the Note 8 not turning on is definitely something that we want to get addressed immediately.”

As PiunikaWeb notes, it’s hard to tell how widespread the issue is at this stage, but Samsung will certainly want to pinpoint the source and resolve the fault quickly to alleviate any concerns that it has shipped another batch of faulty batteries.

The problem also appears to be affecting some phones sold via carriers, with Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile customers all posting similar concerns. If that’s the case with your Note 8 I’d suggest you go through your carrier’s RMA process as soon as you can.