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.
Has your Galaxy Note 8 stopped working in a similar manner? Have you come across someone who might have run into the issue on their phone? Let us know in the comments, along with details on your carrier and/or country of residence!
