Samsung Galaxy Duos explodes in man’s pocket, company says it’s due to third-party battery

Samsung phone reportedly went up in flames in a hotel in Indonesia on September 30. The incident was caught on video, which was later posted on YouTube. The phone was an old Galaxy device — Samsung Galaxy Duos that was launched in 2013. Samsung said that the phone was being used with a third-party battery and that led to the incident. The video showed that the phone exploded in its owner’s shirt pocket.

After reports of the incident came out, Samsung released an official statement stating that the reason behind the battery explosion was third-party battery that the user had put inside the phone.

Smartphone makers always recommend that their customers use only original batteries manufactured by the company, and not put any bought from third-party vendors. However, smartphone users often tend to use third party, probably because these batteries are much more affordable compared to the original ones as well as more readily available. Similar seems to be the case in this incident as well.

The Samsung Galaxy Duos caught fire in the user’s shirt’s pocket, after which the owner of the phone — as shown in the video — fell down while he was trying to take off his shirt to save himself. The user was not hurt in the incident.

The incident was reported by Channel News Asia. In a statement released to CNET, Samsung says that the company isn’t at fault. Samsung notes that the phone user was using a third party battery and not the one manufactured by Samsung, and this is what resulted in the explode. Similar incidents have occurred in the recent past.

The South Korean phone maker said, “We sincerely wish for our customer’s swift recovery, and strongly recommend all our consumers to use Samsung’s genuine or approved batteries that have been specifically designed for use in Samsung products.”

According to the Channel News Asia report, this incident took place in a hotel based in Indonesia called the Hotel Ciputra Semarang, and the man has been identified as hotel staff – name Yulianto. The victim of the incident – Yulianto speaks to Daily Mail and says, “There was a strong sensation of heat and I felt something start to shake. Before I knew what was happening there was fire and I panicked. I took off my shirt as quickly as I could.”

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/samsung-galaxy-duos-explodes-in-mans-pocket-company-says-its-due-to-third-party-battery/1/1064458.html