A Samsung smartphone was caught exploding on camera, going up in flames and causing minor injuries to its owner.
However, unlike the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco that dominated the headlines last year, it is not Samsung's fault this time around.
Samsung Smartphone Catches Fire
A video from Indonesia has been making the rounds online, as it shows a Samsung smartphone catching fire.
The man in the video, known only as Yulianto, works as a concierge supervisor in Hotel Ciputra Semarang. The hotel's CCTV caught footage of Yulianto looking down at his chest pocket where he kept the Samsung phone just moments before it exploded in a flash of blue flames.
The man fell to the ground as he frantically tried to get the burning shirt off him, and seconds later, a bystander came running to help him. They were able to get it away from him, but not before Yulianto suffered minor burns.
Yulianto said that he felt the smartphone getting hot, and it started to shake right before it exploded. He said that he never had problems with the device before the incident.
According to the local police, the combustion of the Samsung smartphone may have been caused by the fact that Yulianto was using its Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth all at the same time, but that should not be enough to set a mobile device on fire on its own.
What Caused The Samsung Smartphone Explosion?
Last year, the cause of the Galaxy Note 7 explosions were neither the hardware or software. The culprit was the Galaxy Note 7 batteries, which were rushed to production and were not tested properly before being rolled out with the smartphone.
For the incident in Indonesia, which involves the Samsung Grand Duos released in 2013, the battery is also the one at fault. However, according to the results of an investigation by Samsung, this is because the battery inside Yulianto's Grand Duos was neither manufactured by Samsung nor by a company that it has authorized.
"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," said a Samsung spokesman through email.
The incident further highlights the need for customers to only use authorized components and accessories for their electronic devices. While a third-party battery may be cheaper, buying one opens up the risk for a variety of problems, ranging from bad performance to a chance of seeing a blue fireball near your face.
