South Korean electronics giant Samsung's investigation into what caused many Galaxy Note 7s to explode and catch fire has indicated that the battery was the main culprit, according to emerging media reports.

Citing an anonymous person familiar with the matter, several media outlets also reported that Samsung will likely officially announce the results of its investigation on January 23rd, a day before announcing its fourth-quarter results.

The person reportedly also revealed that the smartphone maker will also announce some new measures to avoid a repetition of product safety failures in the future. A spokesman for the company declined to comment on the reports.

Bryan Ma, a Singapore-based analyst for research firm IDC, said, "They've got to make sure they come clean and they've got to reassure buyers as to why this won't happen again."

The world's largest smartphone maker was forced to scrap the Note 7 in October last year after it failed to fix the fire issue following an initial recall, suffering a 6.1 trillion won (US$5.2 billion) blow in its operating profit over three quarters.

Reassuring consumers that its devices are safe is really crucial for Samsung ahead of the launch of its flagship Galaxy S8 smartphones, which is expected to hit store shelves in the first half of this year.