It’s becoming increasingly common for people in our ultra-connected society to sleep with their smartphones next to them or even under their pillows so nary an email or instant message will escape our attention.
Texan Ariel Tolfree recently learned the consequences of doing just that.
The 13-year-old girl was recently awoken by her Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone smoldering silently but pungently under her pillow.
She told KDFW she placed the phone under the pillow before she fell asleep. Later that night, she smelled something burning.
‘I didn’t think much of it, so I went back to sleep and then I woke up again and it was more prominent,’ Tolfree said.
Under her pillow, she discovered her phone charted and partially melted. Her sheets, mattress and pillow were also scorched.
Her father said the phone must have overheated, causing the battery to swell and start a small fire.
A spokesperson for Samsung told the Fox affiliate that the battery inside the phone was a replacement unit and not an original Samsung battery.
Samsung cautions in its ‘Common Phone’ warranty guide on its website that third-party batteries shouldn’t be used and also specifically warns in the phone’s manual against covering the device with bedding or anything. It could cause a fire, it states.
‘If anything, they should put a big warning on it, like a cigarette label, if that’s the case,’ Thomas Tolfree, the girl’s father, said.
Samsung said they take any instance of a battery fire ‘very seriously’ and requested that the phone be mailed to the company for a full investigation.
The company has offered to replace the phone, the bedding, the mattress and pillow.
Source: Daily Mail