Galaxy S4 bursts in flames while gaming, Hong Kong man claims, fire spreads to house and Mercedes
posted by Daniel P.
/ Jul 30, 2013, 4:07 AM
He quickly ran out of the house with his wife and pets, only to see the home incinerated to the walls, and the fire spreading out to the Mercedes that was parked next to the building.
While previous spontaneous combustion cases with the Galaxy S III and iPhones turned out to be caused by third party batteries or chargers, and Apple even issued a warning against using those, the Hong Kong man claims his Galaxy S4 was with the battery and charger it was packaged with.
What's not entirely clear is whether the S4 itself wasn't a counterfeit unit, as the man seems to have bought it from someone else, not to mention that the whole story starts from what appears to be a rather flammable couch, but, hey, the man was playing "Love Machine" on the device, after all.
Samsung Hong Kong has apparently already said it will investigate the matter, and do some chemical analysis magic to determine whether the S4 and its components were genuine, and were the real reason for the incident reported, so we'll keep an eye on the developments.
Samsung Galaxy S4 bursts in flames while gaming, Hong Kong man claims
source: Xianguo via TheRegister
79 Comments
1. EXkurogane
Posts: 863; Member since: Mar 07, 2013
Seems like Galaxy S4 should be renamed as Galaxy C4.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 4:08 AM 59
10. neutralguy
Posts: 1152; Member since: Apr 30, 2012
You sir made my day. Haha
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 4:37 AM 12
73. MartianMe unregistered
WTF!!...how come these kind of sh1t are only happening in asia?
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 6:01 PM 0
11. SlimSoulja86
Posts: 660; Member since: Nov 03, 2011
I think the man is trying his luck. Rich company? Well claim their device is the reason you lost you belongings and so they could pay. Oldest trick in the book, and yes, fanboys will believe this is Samsung's fault. Typical. If your fone is on fire why throw it under the sofa? Like really? I'm not convinced that this was S$'s fault.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 4:38 AM 18
20. EXkurogane
Posts: 863; Member since: Mar 07, 2013
I do sense conspiracy in this. The story is 'too epic' to be real. Must be made up.
Notice how most electrocution/burning/exploding stories only involve Samsung's flagships and iPhones, never HTC, Nokia, LG or any other brands.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 5:04 AM 14
28. jedpatrickdatu
Posts: 169; Member since: Jan 24, 2013
I agree. Also, it's suspicious that these phone explosions and electrocutions are happening just a few days or weeks after the other.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 5:27 AM 7
29. gabrielvoica
Posts: 67; Member since: Mar 05, 2013
might be a false story but when did you see a htc,nokia or lg to overheat like a samsung phone?
for example: i now own the htc one and before this i had the s4...i ditched the s4 because of overheating..to be more precise my s4 got a 65 degrees celsius measurement while the one with the same usage won't go higher than 44....personal experience...
i rooted the s4,flashed another rom and kernel just to solve this problem and it didn't do much...the phone was brand new...
same happened with my note 2 before this...i owned the whole galaxy lineup from sammy and everytime i noticed the overheating...
as for apple i have the ipad4 and trust me when i say that sometimes out of the sudden it gets extremely hot...and i'm talking when browsing the web not playing games or anything complex...
this is a real problem unfortunetely that i didn't find on any nokia or htc device that i owned...
they should focus more on this things instead of 8cores and crap...maybe with 8cores i can fry a chicken due to the heat...
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 5:29 AM 9
30. EXkurogane
Posts: 863; Member since: Mar 07, 2013
If your Galaxies are of the Exynos variant, that might be the reason. The only good thing about Exynos is cranking out a lot of power in performance and topping the benchmarks.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 5:45 AM 1
35. gabrielvoica
Posts: 67; Member since: Mar 05, 2013
they were exynos and the s4 was the snapdragon 600....
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 5:52 AM 0
37. gabrielvoica
Posts: 67; Member since: Mar 05, 2013
and about samsung....i know there are a lot of people saying this on every tech site but....the lag...it's just amazing how on a flagship device like the s4 with all that power inside the phone lagged...compared to the htc one the s4 is years behind...sorry but it's the truth...and also the battery life is horrible on the s4 mainly also because of the overheating..
it's a cool phone but it feels like they forgot to do something before releasing it...like actually try the device themselves...
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 6:01 AM 7
40. EXkurogane
Posts: 863; Member since: Mar 07, 2013
^ I know, The lag on Samsung devices. People deny it but even i also experienced it. And the demo units in Samsung stores are also the same but people will tell me "the crowd used it and randomly open apps without closing, thats why it lagged".
You may be able to solve the lag with custom firmwares, but making sure a phone works well right out of box is the OEM's responsibility, not customer's. They stuffed in too much bloatware into the S4.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 6:13 AM 4
65. whysoserious
Posts: 318; Member since: Jul 20, 2012
Setting the lag issue aside, i'm finding this guy's claims about this incident too hard to believe. Yes, phones tend to overheat during heavy use, but, seriously, a small device, capable of incinerating an entire house?! If it suddenly burned while playing with it, where's the burn on his hand? He could've suffered at least first degree burn on his hands if it's true.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 2:13 PM 1
52. lambchops
Posts: 4; Member since: Mar 14, 2013
LOL, ya know.. i am sooooo sick of hearing people like you trying to put the wrong idea in other peoples heads. Ive had the original galaxy i9500, the s2, s3, s4, note 10.1, note 8.0, aaaaand galaxy camera, and of course ive experienced lag, what phone/tablet doesnt lag? exactly. My sisters both have the iphone 5, and god, not EVERYthing positive that comes out of there mouth, it reboots itself here and there, it heats up from moderate use aswell, it lags. And as for the htc one, quite the coincident that my dad has it.. but anyways, dont tell me that thing doesnt fricken lag, cuz it does. And it does about as often as my galaxy s4 does. Which would be a little bit here and there. And just so ya know, the htc one is warm almost everytime i use my dads phone.. no phone is perfect bud. In my opinion, Touchwiz is the most user friendly interface, and air view and air gesture are cool as hell and i use them all the time, and the screen on the s4 is definitely best in its class, and same with the 13 mp camera.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 8:32 AM 8
53. gabrielvoica
Posts: 67; Member since: Mar 05, 2013
for your own knowledge....i'm talking about personal experiences and i'm not trying to put ideas in others head...ok?so chill out...be happy with your device,i was not...and also to help you with your lag i recommend you deactivate the eye scrolling and air view and you will see that things realy improve...touchwiz is the thing that makes the phone lag...
as for the rest there is a thing called youtube if you wan't to see comparisons between these 2 and the problem is that pretty much everyone favors the one...
in every aspect...
i don't have time for fanboy wars because i really don't care...it's called choice...so everyone choses what ever he likes...
have a nice day!
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 9:02 AM 3
57. lambchops
Posts: 4; Member since: Mar 14, 2013
Haha, no offence, but your pretty stupid when it comes to knowledge about this kinda stuff eh? lol, smart scroll/air view/air gesture/smart pause could potentially cause the phone to lag, but having them turned on mostly just kills your battery, clearing the ram is what will call for less lag.. just letting ya know. Im just sick of people knocking down the s4 because maybe there phone isnt as good, or just feel the need to share there negative opinion about the s4. Im not a fan boy anymore than you are, i just dont like being told that my top of the line phone lags all the time and overheats. Meanwhile, i havent really had any problems with it.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 9:25 AM 3
69. gabrielvoica
Posts: 67; Member since: Mar 05, 2013
first of all junior we are not the same age so watch your language!
second ...you say you own a s4 but still you're using your father's htc one!
third i use fast reboot and task killer on all my phones and also background data is off...so there is nothin g unnecesary running in the background..
4th...this is a public forum so if i wan't to express my opinion regarding my own experience with a device i will do it and i don't give a f....about what you like or don't...if you love your device junior so much then you should get married and have children together ....
5 th....there is a thing called education and respect ..you should learn about them..they might actually help you later in life...
6 th....i'm pretty sure that i know a lot more about this things than you know so please...
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 3:55 PM 0
46. vincelongman
Posts: 5591; Member since: Feb 10, 2013
I am calling BS, I don't believe the explosion could have been that bad.
I've read of other phone's battery exploding including the iPhone 5 (while man was calling) and HTC One X (while on kitchen top, idle), Note II (in boys pocket, idle) and S3 (in ladys pocket, idle but third party).
People, just to stop, its unfortunately this happens, but its like a couple phones out of millions.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 7:10 AM 6
56. gabrielvoica
Posts: 67; Member since: Mar 05, 2013
it's obvious he was lying...
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 9:09 AM 3
54. gabrielvoica
Posts: 67; Member since: Mar 05, 2013
all phones get hot if you use them while charging...
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 9:04 AM 1
62. Bilpocalypse
Posts: 301; Member since: Oct 13, 2012
My Nokia overheats occasionally. This isn't just a Samsung issue.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 10:39 AM 2
68. Zegareke
Posts: 1; Member since: Jun 23, 2013
I wonder if they can find out chemically whether that c4 was overclocked and loaded with tons of background apps in case it was an original sammy.
I see nothing wrong in throwing away burning things. I don't think he was like "Oh, so it's burning, well, where should I throw it" rather just threw and it landed there randomly.
But also he could just smoke pot there while playing on s4, someone came in, so he threw the s4 under the couch and pretended he wasn't playing.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 3:55 PM 0
2. pwnarena
Posts: 1129; Member since: Feb 15, 2013
"...startling him and forcing him to throw it under the sofa..."
makes the claim dubious. i've always thought hong kongers are some of the most intelligent people in the world. they have the highest average IQ in the world.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 4:11 AM 6
3. TakashiDeo
Posts: 26; Member since: Jul 20, 2013
why dont chinese phones explode?? and come in news
which are made of more cheap materials....
samsung needs to carry out some serious investigation
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 4:14 AM 1
5. EXkurogane
Posts: 863; Member since: Mar 07, 2013
Everything made in China explodes, except bombs.
I have read cases that even adjustable office chair explodes (the gas/liquid in the hydraulic system).
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 4:19 AM 6
44. Dingy_cellar_dweller
Posts: 339; Member since: Mar 16, 2013
Yea, he was testing a new after market charger thats going to be available on ebay soon.
posted on Jul 30, 2013, 7:08 AM 1
4. boosook
Posts: 1442; Member since: Nov 19, 2012
LOL! You don't REALLY believe this absurd story, right? Your phone catches fire in your hands and you throw it… under the sofa? And when you realize what you've done you don't move the sofa but you let it burn?
