A Galaxy S III owner in Ireland had posted on a forum that his brand new S3 exploded! The phone exploded with a hearable bang, mounted in the owners carkit. The owner was not hurt, but the explosion apparently left some nasty molten plastic remains on the inside of his car.
The photo’s you see here originate from the original blogpost and are showing a significant amount of molten plastic, about halfway between the USB port and the right edge. The screen still worked but the reception was dead.
This is not the first smartphone to be reported overheating or exploding. In March of this year, a Korean schoolboy said that the spare battery for his S2 exploded in his pocket.
Samsung has already issued a statement on its Samsung Tomorrow blog, saying:
“There have been recent online posts displaying pictures of a Samsung GALAXY S3 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.”
Bottomline is that this doesn’t look good. While it’s certainly not the first smartphone burst into flames – the damage is pretty substantial. A spokeswoman said the company will be looking into the matter.
This accident caused the Galaxy S3 to burn from the inside out and melted its case, but it still worked afterwards even though the signal was lost.
"The phone was destroyed and it slightly burned a piece of plastic on the inside of my car," said the person in the post. "And they are refusing to give me a replacement; they had to send it off. Probably nothing I can do, but I'm really annoyed. That could have burned the side of my face or through my pocket and my leg, or set fire to my bed. It's very dangerous."
Samsung issued a statement this week promising to investigate the claim and get to the bottom of what seems to be an overheating of the smartphone.
"There have been recent online posts displaying pictures of a Samsung Galaxy S3 that appears to have heat-related damage at the bottom of the device," said the company on its official blog. "Samsung is aware of this issue and will begin investigating as soon as we receive the specific product in question."
