After the disastrous Galaxy Note7 battery fiasco, Samsung made a remarkable comeback with Galaxy Note8 in 2017 and followed up with the Note9 series with decent upgrades last month. Now, a report from the US has emerged the 2018-series flagship exploded in her purse and also leaving her with minor burns to the hands.
A real estate agent Diane Chung from Long Island has filed a lawsuit against Samsung, as her Galaxy Note9 spontaneously caught fire in her purse. Chung was using the phone in an elevator in the Bayside building and it suddenly got overheated. Chung switched off the phone and kept in the purse so that it can cool down, but apparently, it continued to heat up and started making hissing and whistling sound. Before she could realise, smoke started to emanate from the purse, the New York Post reported citing Chung's lawsuit document against Samsung.
It has come to light that Chung was alone in the elevator during the incident and threw the purse on the floor and she pressed the emergency button on the elevator and opened it. She kicked the purse towards the lobby. There, a fellow citizen ran over to the burning phone and picked it up with a cloth and put it in a water container to dissipate the flames.
This incident comes a month after Samsung's CEO Koh Dong-jin assured fans and tech critics on Galaxy Note9, that the company has taken all safety measures to ensure the device is fireproof. This scepticism among critics stems from the fact that, the Galaxy Note7 incident happened due to flawed design in battery size in the compact body and the company in a bid to thwart any such incident recur, it had kept the Note8's battery capacity same as its predecessor, but with a safe design.
This year, the company incorporated 4000mAh in the Note9, 700mah (21-per cent) more than the Note8 (3,300mAh). Unfortunately for Samsung, the worst nightmare come back to haunt it.
Chang is reportedly seeking damages charges (amount yet to be ascertained) and also a court order to prohibit the sale of the Galaxy Note9 in the US.
"We have not received any reports of similar incidents involving a Galaxy Note9 device and we are investigating the matter," a Samsung spokesman said to the NYP.
So, should the Samsung Galaxy Note9 consumer be worried?
For now, there is no need to panic, as this is first such incident and there is no other case of this nature reported anywhere in the world. This seems to be a one-off incident. It is bound to happen not just for Samsung, but for any other companies, who make phones in large numbers. It is normal for some defective units getting into the hands of the consumers despite safety measures in place.
International Business Times India Edition has reached out to Samsung spokesperson for a response to the aforementioned report. We will be getting more details soon.
