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Samsung to investigate "burned" Galaxy S III

The owner claimed that the "phone burned from the inside out" and posted images of the damaged smartphone on the Web.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Samsung is to investigate a handset that suddenly emitted "white flame, sparks and a bang" while connected to a car mount, a claim made by the owner.

The report appeared on the Irish message board Boards.ie. The owner claimed that the "phone burned from the inside out," and "burned through the plastic and melted my case to my phone," and that the incident "slightly burned a piece of plastic on the inside of my car".

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The owner has confirmed that the car mount did not feature an in-car charger and was only used to hold the handset.

The owner also posted photos of the damaged handset.

The user initially had problems getting the handset replaced by the retailer, the U.K.'s Carphone Warehouse, but has since received a visit from Samsung's head of customer services, who replaced the handset and promised to send the owner "some free stuff."

Following the replacement of the handset, the owner has since updated the forum post to say that there is "no confirmation that it was a fault with the phone" and that "it may actually have been caused by a combination of my car mount and my cars heating system".

Samsung have issued a short statement noting that "there have been recent online posts displaying pictures of a Samsung Galaxy S III that appears to have heat-related damage at the bottom of the device".

"Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details on the situation. We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously".

Image source: dillo2k10/Boards.ie.

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