The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 saga is apparently not over, as more replacement phones presumed to be safe are catching fire.
For those unfamiliar with the matter, the Galaxy Note 7 had battery issues that caused the phone to overheat. After reports of exploding batteries started piling up, Samsung issued a global recall, pulling the Note 7 off the market and promising to fix the problem.
The company eventually put the Note 7 back on sale globally, claiming that the device was now safe to use and no longer posing risks of fires, but it's not quite so. Reports are again piling up, this time involving replacement Galaxy Note 7 units that caught fire.
Late last week, news broke out that a replacement Galaxy Note 7 unit caught fire aboard a Southwest Airlines flight. Merely days after, another replacement Note 7 exploded in Taiwan.
Samsung issued a brief statement on Friday, Oct. 7, promising to further look into the matter and address any unresolved issues.
"If we conclude a safety issue exists, we will work with the CPSC to take immediate steps to address the situation," said the company.
However, the issue seems to be escalating with each passing day and more reports of exploding Galaxy Note 7 smartphones have surfaced, involving replacement units.
One report comes from Minnesota, where a 13-year-old girl suffered minor burns after her replacement Galaxy Note 7 heated up and melted in her hand. Another report from Kentucky, meanwhile, reveals that another replacement Galaxy Note 7 caught fire in the middle of the night.
Michael Klering, the Galaxy Note 7 owner from Kentucky, said the phone was not in use nor charging at the time. The man simply woke up in the middle of the night because his bedroom was full of smoke as his replacement Galaxy Note 7 caught fire.
Klering started "vomiting black" later in the day and after a trip to the ER, he was diagnosed with acute bronchitis from the smoke inhalation.
Perhaps even more disturbingly, Klering apparently received a questionable text message from a Samsung representative who likely wanted to send the text to someone else.
"Just now got this. I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it," reads the message.
Up to that point, Klering believed that Samsung was doing everything in its power to help him and solve the issue, but receiving this message made him reconsider.
"It made me think you know they're not taking this serious enough and it's time to move on," Klering said. The man is reportedly seeking legal counsel on how to proceed.
It remains to be seen how Samsung will handle the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, but it's not looking good. Amid the whole controversy, all four major carriers in the United States — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — are offering to swap replacement Galaxy Note 7 units for any other smartphones. Will Samsung eventually pull the Note 7 off the market for good, or is it attempting a cover-up?
