SpecEagle
SpecEagle review · Samsung

Galaxy Note 7 review: The recalled 2016 flagship — technically brilliant, infamously flammable.

SpecEagle Editorial·Aug 2016·$849 (launch)
Overall
60/100
Class rank
#1 of 1
Tier
Legacy Flagship
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

The brilliant phone that caught fire.

Galaxy Note 7 was, on paper, the best phone of 2016 — iris scanner, IP68, S Pen, dual-curved QHD AMOLED. A battery-design flaw caused spontaneous fires, triggering a global recall and permanent discontinuation within two months. It is studied today as the defining case in lithium-battery safety.

01Display

88/100

88/100 — right at the average for legacy flagship phones of 2016.

TypeDual-curved Super AMOLED, HDR
Size5.7 inches
Resolution2,560 × 1,440 px (518 ppi)
ProtectionCorning Gorilla Glass 5

02Camera

80/100

80/100 — right at the average for legacy flagship phones of 2016.

Main12 MP dual-pixel, f/1.7, OIS
Selfie5 MP, f/1.7
Video4K @ 30 fps

03Performance

75/100

75/100 — right at the average for legacy flagship phones of 2016.

ChipsetExynos 8890 / Snapdragon 820 (14 nm)
RAM4 GB LPDDR4
Storage64 GB · microSD
S Pen0.7 mm tip, 4,096 pressure levels, IP68 stylus

04Battery

30/100

30/100 — right at the average for legacy flagship phones of 2016.

Capacity3,500 mAh — RECALLED for fire risk
Wired15 W Adaptive Fast Charge
WirelessYes (Qi/PMA)

05Build

86/100

86/100 — right at the average for legacy flagship phones of 2016.

06Value

30/100

30/100 — right at the average for legacy flagship phones of 2016.

What works
  • First mainstream phone with an iris scanner.
  • IP68 + S Pen + USB-C ahead of its time.
  • Dual-curved QHD Super AMOLED was best-in-class.
  • Dual-pixel f/1.7 camera was a 2016 benchmark.
What doesn't
  • Globally RECALLED for battery fires — banned on aircraft.
  • Production permanently discontinued within two months.
  • Most units remotely bricked by Samsung.
  • A cautionary tale in battery engineering, not a usable phone.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 1-phone cohort of legacy flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .