Redditor claims his Samsung Galaxy S3 exploded while charging

Do you sleep with your phone by your pillow? Well, that might not be such a good idea. Redditor vizionx1208 has posted photos of a damaged Samsung Galaxy S3, which allegedly exploded while he was asleep.

Vizionx1208 writes that he woke up at around 3AM in the morning to a loud noise and a “weird squeaking sound”, and realised that his Galaxy S3, which had been plugged-in to a charger for about an hour, was emanating lots of smoke and a foul smell. He then dumped a glass of water over the phone and was able to stop it smoking, but the mattress was also burnt. 

The burnt back cover and charred bed

He also wrote that the plastic on the phone was melting and “kind of shooting out of it". Some of the plastic seemingly landed on his little finger, burning off a bit of skin.

The photos show a burnt and slightly melted back panel, a burnt mattress, a bloated battery and a blister on vizionx1208’s finger. Although the phone looks like it’s been damaged really badly, the damaged battery is the scariest of the lot. It’s bloated, disfigured and looks like it almost exploded.

The user claims that the phone, firmware, charger and battery were all stock and as supplied by Samsung. He also said the phone was not rooted.

The scary looking battery

Although the photos appear legit, it might be a good idea to take this news with a large pinch of salt as people have been known to fake exploding phones in the past. Most notably, an Irish guy last year posted on a forum that his new Galaxy S3 burned up from the inside. Samsung quickly replaced the damaged piece with a brand new Galaxy S3 and some goodies, but sent the device to be tested to determine the exact cause of the damage. The investigation revealed that the phone had been microwaved, which caused it to burn.

Following the reveal, the owner of the phone retracted his complaint on the forums and admitted that the phone had been microwaved as it had fallen in some water.

But even if Redditor vizionx1208 has faked the entire thing, you should still avoid sleeping with phones or tablets by your bed. Lithium ion batteries can be a little unreliable and there have been numerous cases of phones burning up due to faulty batteries. Gadgets should be placed on a table or a hard surface, away from a bed. No matter how extensively you use your phone, you surely don’t want an exploding phone by your head, do you?