This Galaxy S3 looks like it was hit with a missile [PHONE EXPLOSIONS]
On today’s episode of “when phones spontaneously combust for no reason,” the Samsung Galaxy S3 is the latest to be subject to exploding phone syndrome. 18-year-old Swiss lass Fanny Schlatter was at work, doing what she normally does, when she said she smelt a weird chemical smell and began to see smoke. Before she knew it, flames apparently jumped out of her pocket and reached shoulder height.
Suffering third-degree burns, the only way Schlatter could prevent further damage (without a fire extinguisher handy) was to rip off her pants, but she was too shocked and frightened at that moment, and decided against it. Her boss insisted on doing it for her, and proceeded to extinguish said fire in a much less elegant way. What you see above is the result of all of that.
Honestly, when I first read this story I was surprised that this didn’t come straight out of The Onion. All of it sounds ridiculous, really — what kind of faulty phone could produce flames that can reach shoulder height? Why was her boss — presumably a male (but shoddy translation doesn’t help) — not equipped with a fire extinguisher, instead opting to enact an ingenious decision to rip off her pants?
I mean, we’ve heard of fake smartphone explosion stories before (you’re still not off the hook, exploding Motorola DROID 2 guy), and even those aren’t as farfetched as what apparently happened to this young lady. L’essentiel, a leading French publication, swears it’s true, though, so I guess we can’t challenge much of that.
Schlatter is said to be seeking a complaint against Samsung, which should at least take care of getting her a new phone and paying any medical bills she might have incurred. Take a look at the remains of what happened in the images above and below, and leave your thoughts in the comments section.
[via New Launches]