Exploding Chinese Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Incident Could Have Been Planned

Samsung’s been in damage control mode for some time now following the revelation that its recently released Galaxy Note 7 has a tendency to burst violently into flames due to gnarly battery issues.

While a massive recall of 2.5 million handsets is underway, albeit haltingly, the embattled tech giant received another scare over the weekend when photos of another allegedly exploded Note 7 surfaced in China.

Unlike in other markets, the Galaxy Note 7 units shipped to the Chinese market are thought to be free of battery issues because they are not equipped with faulty Samsung SDI components. Instead, the Chinese market has been receiving units with batteries manufactured by Amperex Technology Limited, which are generally considered to be safe and free of explosion risks, which is why the Samsung recall has not extended to Chinese shores.

Following the allegations, Amperex and Samsung jointly conducted tests on the offending smartphone from China and concluded that battery issues were not to blame. Instead, the companies found following their investigation that the phone was damaged by an “external heat source”, meaning it did not combust by itself and was rather burned by someone or something.

“According to the burn marks on the sample, we surmise that the source of the heating comes from outside the battery, and it’s very likely that there was an external factor causing the heating problem,” the two companies said in a press statement.

Amperex also suggested that the smartphone may have been damaged with an induction oven or a fan heater, though it’s unclear whether the incident was accidental or intentional.

This is a much needed reprieve for Samsung, for which China is a significant market even though it has lost market share to Chinese rivals, such as Huawei and Xiaomi.