It’s the season of smartphone explosions. The production of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was discontinued after more than a hundred cases of the phone catching fire or exploding. There have also been at least four cases of the iPhone 7 explosions in the last few weeks. Before Apple could even catch up, Samsung proved that no one could beat it in making fire-prone smartphones. Now a Winnipeg man has suffered second- and third-degree burns due to a Galaxy S7 explosion.
It was like “firecrackers going off”
Winnipeg resident Amarjit Mann, 34, told the Winnipeg Sun that his Galaxy S7 was in his pocket while he was driving on Arlington Street at around 10:30 a.m. He suddenly started feeling “warmness” in his pocket. Mann took out the device and it “exploded right away” in his hands. “It was like a nightmare,” he told the Winnipeg Sun. The Galaxy S7 owner suffered burns on both his hands.
A spark from the smartphone hit him on the cheek just under the eye. It was like “firecrackers going off,” he said. He went to a hospital for treatment, where doctors told him that his wounds would take up to nine days to heal. A Samsung representative told Fortune that the company could not comment on an “alleged” incident without obtaining and analyzing the handset.
Galaxy S7 is ‘like a bomb you can carry’
Mann told the Winnipeg Sun that he plans to take legal action against Samsung. He works as a mechanic, so he can’t go to work until he regains the full use of his hands. “It’s like a bomb you can carry,” he told the publication. The Galaxy S7 was released earlier this year, and it had broadly received positive reviews from users and critics alike. But the device has come under increased scrutiny after Note 7 incidents.
This is not the first instance of a Galaxy S7 catching fire. Last month, an employee at one of the top four telecom companies in the US said on condition of anonymity that a Galaxy S7 Edge had exploded. The device had been shipped to Samsung for evaluation. However, these appear to be isolated incidents as the Galaxy S7 explosions have been far fewer than Galaxy Note 7 cases.
Will Samsung launch refurbished Galaxy Note 7 next year?
Samsung killed the Galaxy Note 7 after recalling the handset twice. The company initially claimed that the Note 7 explosions were caused due to faulty batteries supplied by its sister firm. But the company halted production and sales of the device after supposedly safe replacement Note 7s with batteries from a different supplier also started catching fire. Samsung had to issue full-page apology ads in major US publications to apologize to Note 7 owners.
Recently, reports surfaced that Samsung was planning to sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7 units in emerging markets like India and Vietnam in an attempt to recover at least some of the losses. The Note 7 debacle is estimated to have cost Samsung close to $5 billion. Unfortunately, the company hasn’t yet figured out the cause of Note 7 explosions.
Photo by R?zvan B?lt?re?u
