Samsung will keep using the Galaxy Note brand

Now that Samsung has pinpointed the suspected causes of the Galaxy Note 7's battery fires, there's one question on many people's minds: will the Galaxy Note brand carry on, or is it tarnished forever? If you're a fan, you can relax. The company's DJ Koh tells CNET that the Note name is very much alive. There are "lots and lots of loyal customers," he says. And while there wasn't much doubt that there would be a Note successor this year, Koh isn't shy about hinting at a "better, safer and very innovative" Galaxy Note 8.

The rationale seems to check out. It's no secret that Galaxy Note fans are not only widespread, but occasionally protective to a fault -- witness the Note 7 owners who stuck to the recalled device even after an update was supposed to have disabled charging. While similar phones under a new name wouldn't necessarily prove disastrous, there's enough goodwill left in the Note brand that it's likely to help more than it hurts.