A TEENAGE GIRL'S Galaxy S4 smartphone caught fire beneath her pillow while she was sleeping, it has been reported, but Samsung has blamed the incident on a replacement battery.
Fox News has the scoop on the latest Galaxy S4 fire. It reports that 13-year-old Ariel Tolfree of North Texas had her Galaxy S4 underneath her pillow while she slept, and was woken up by the smell of burning.
Tolfree said, "I didn't think much of it, so I went back to sleep, and then I woke up again and it was more prominent."
It turned out that the smell came from the melted Galaxy S4 that was underneath her head. While it's unclear exactly what happened, Ariel's father Thomas thinks he has the answer, saying he suspects that the phone overheated, causing the battery to swell and start a fire.
"The whole phone melted," Thomas said. "The plastic, the glass. You can't even really tell that it was a phone."
"We have a reasonable expectation that the products we buy are going to be safe," he added.
However, as it turns out, the whole fiasco isn't Samsung's fault, as Ariel had kitted out her Galaxy S4 with a replacement battery from a third-party manufacturer - something taht the company says it advises against doing. What's more, Samsung's warning specifically states that covering covering one of their devices with bedding or other material could restrict airflow and cause a fire.
This warning apparently wasn't very prominent, though, with both Ariel and her dad claiming that they didn't see it.
"If anything, they should put a big warning on it, like a cigarette label, if that's the case." Thomas said.
Although it isn't taking the blame, Samsung has said that it will replace Ariel's smartphone, bedding, mattress and pillow.
