Things are starting to look up for Samsung. After announcing expectations of record fourth quarter 2016 profits, the South Korean electronics company on January 11 announced "over 96 percent" of the recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones have been returned.

That's up from 93 percent in early December, when Samsung announced a software update would soon render all remaining Note 7 devices useless. As of January 8, all four major US carriers have now released the software update, and all remaining Note 7 smartphones in the wild will soon be better off as paperweights.

In addition to reaching 96 percent return rate, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it will no longer require airlines to make a pre-flight announcement reminding passengers the Note 7 is banned from all flights.

To be clear, the Note 7 is still banned from flights, but "due to the high degree of public awareness of the ban" along with the high return percentage and software update, the FAA no longer feels its necessary to make any announcements as passengers board each and every flight.

The constant reminder of how dangerous a Samsung product could be wasn't helping Samsung's consumer image. With the reminders going away, Samsung can now focus on rebuilding its reputation and earning consumers' trust back.

A good place to start would be to release its investigative findings, detailing what caused some Note 7 smartphones to catch fire or explode and what the company is going to do to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.

Samsung has said it will do just that "very soon."

Take a look at this Galaxy Note 7 overheating theory: