Electronics sometimes burst into flames, we’ve seen it happen before, and usually damage is confined to a crispy handset, or temporarily scorched appendage. But in this instance—as explained by a man in Hong Kong—a fresh Galaxy S4 torched an entire apartment. The resulting aftermath looks like a tornado ripped through the small residence. But nope. It was an alleged S4 gone wild.
According to Du, the device was an official Samsung product—no components or accessories were from third-party sellers. And the device wasn’t even charging, Du said, meaning it just exploded without provocation. This has the potential to be some weird cover-up by Du, who could very well be making up a story and blaming it on Samsung. But who knows. Samsung said it’s looking into the matter, and will perform a chemical analysis of the charred device.According to the man, simply identified as “Du,” his S4’s battery suddenly burst into flames—and that’s when things went downhill. Du unwisely reacted by chucking the blazing handset under a couch, making the whole situation worse. In a matter of seconds, the fire spread from Du’s S4 to his entire apartment; fortunately, Du and his wife managed to escape the apartment unharmed.
The news follows a story of a woman who was allegedly electrocuted by her iPhone. That ended up being the result of a third-party charger, however, and Apple responded by warning its customers to only use Apple cables.
