Samsung sued by construction worker for Galaxy S7 Edge explosion in US

A lawsuit has been filed by a construction worker in the US against South Korean electronics giant Samsung after his Galaxy S7 Edge device caught fire in his pocket and resulted in second-degree burns.

This incident comes days after the company's mass recall of its recently released phablet flagship, the Galaxy Note 7, due to widespread reports of battery explosions. While the battery explosions of the Note 7 resulted in its mass recall, cases of battery issues with the S7 Edge have been extremely rare seen since its release.

According to Daniel Ramirez, who filed the lawsuit with the help of classaction.com, the Galaxy S7 Edge was purchased by him from a Best Buy store in Modesto, California in March 2016. In 30 May, while working at a bookstore in Ohio the device caught fire and smoke was coming out of it while still in his pocket. When he reached his pocket to take out the phone, Ramirez suffered burns to the right hand soon after which the device suddenly exploded leaving him seriously injured with second and third-degree burns.

The product liability lawsuit filed against Samsung now urges the company to address the safety of batteries in the Galaxy S7 Edge as well or at least investigate what the issue was with the device in question and why it exploded. The firm representing Ramirez has encouraged other Galaxy S7 Edge users who may have faced a similar fate to come forward.

In contrast to the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, which exploded when the handsets were being charged, here the Galaxy S7 was in stationary mode. It is not clear if this is an isolated incident or faults lie with the S7 Edge battery, too. It is worth noting that some batches S7 Edge phones contain batteries from Samsung SDI, the same company whose battery component was found faulty in the Note 7.

Samsung is yet to comment on this isolated incident and is currently dealing with the massive recall of its Galaxy Note 7 handsets which have been banned on board many airlines globally due to safety concerns. Samsung itself has asked owners of the phone to come forward for the exchange program in view of their safety.