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Samsung no doubt thinks its Galaxy S III smartphone is red hot and ready to smoke the competition, but a user in Dublin has experienced something else entirely. His Galaxy S III, he wrote on a chat board June 20, exploded while docked in his car.
I was driving along ¦ when suddenly a white flame, sparks and a bang came out of the phone, the Samsung owner wrote, using the handle dillo2k10. An included link to a Facebook page says hes a university student named Dylan Kershaw. He added that the phone burned from the inside out and burned through the plastic and melted my case to my phone. The phone kept working but without any signal.
A photo posted to the site shows a phone with some sort of serious, but not externally extensive, fire damage.
The Irish student added that he brought the phone to Carphone Warehousea popular phone seller, where he was told the matter would need to be looked into.
[They didnt even give me a] replacement phone, left with nothing, he wrote. The phone was destroyed and it slightly burned a piece of plastic on the inside of my car. ¦ Probably nothing I can do, but Im really annoyed. That could have burned the side of my face or through my pocket and my leg, or set fire to my bed. Its very dangerous.
Samsung, recognizing a potential public relations nightmare when it hears one, hurried to pay the lad a visit.
The head of customer services came out to see me and gave me a replacement phone. Even said he would send me out some free stuff, dillo2k10 wrote in an update to the post.
Samsung acknowledged on its Samsung Tomorrow site that it is looking into the matter. It said in a June 21 blog post:
“There have been recent online posts displaying pictures of a Samsung GALAXY SIII that appears to have heat-related damage at the bottom of the device. Samsung is aware of this issue and will begin investigating as soon as we receive the specific product in question.Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details on the situation. We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously.“
Apple, over the years, has dealt with similar incidents. Or perhaps mostly let the smoke clear. In 2009, it denied that instances of exploding iPhone 3GS handsets were its fault. The iPhones with broken glass that we have analysed to date show that in all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone,” a spokesperson told the BBC News.
In late 2011, two reports emerged within a week of iPhone 4 smartphones exploding, one in a mans home in Brazil and another on a flight headed for Sydney. Its unclear whether Apple responded or made a statement, though in the latter instance the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it was investigating.
While trying out two Galaxy S III phones to review, an eWEEK reviewer did find that the smartphone became warm around its bottom halfan annoyance on a warm day but by no means a danger.
The Galaxy S III is now available in the United States from T-Mobile and Sprint. In the coming weeks, it will also be offered by Verizon Wireless, AT&T and US Cellular.