A woman in Long Island, US, has filed a lawsuit against Samsung alleging that her brand-new Galaxy Note 9 smartphone burst into flames inside her purse.
Diane Chung, a real estate agent, claims that the incident happened on September 3, when she was in an elevator, says Times of India citing a report in New York Times.
According to the lawsuit filed by Chung, she was in the elevator when her phone became extremely hot. She stopped using the phone and put it in her bag. Suddenly she heard a whistling and screeching sound, and noticed thick smoke pouring from her purse.
According to the report, Chung further adds in the lawsuit that as soon as the elevator reached the lobby she threw her smartphone out while it was still burning. A man had to use a cloth and immerse the device in bucket of water to put out the flames. Chug has now filed a lawsuit in the Queens Supreme Court seeking compensation for the damages caused. She is also seeking orders to bar Samsung from selling the Galaxy Note 9.
This is the first time that Samsung has used a 4,000 mAh battery in Galaxy Note series. Samsung's other 2018 flagship smartphones, Samsung Galaxy S9 + and Samsung Galaxy S9, offer 3500 and 3300 battery capacity respectively.
"The battery in the Galaxy Note 9 is safer than ever," Samsung's mobile business head DJ Koh reportedly told The Investor last month. "Users do not have to worry about the batteries anymore," he said. Samsung claims that the batteries of all smartphones post Note 9 undergo eight-point check. This, according to the company, involves putting its batteries through extreme testing, inside and out, followed by careful inspection by X-ray and the human eye. These eight tests include: Durability test; visual inspection; X-ray; charge and discharge test; TVOC test; disassembling test; accelerated usage test and OCV test.
Chung's legal claim brings back the memory of South Korean company’s 2016 disaster with Galaxy Note 7. Several cases of Note 7 smartphone catching fire were reportede from across the world, forcing the company to dump 2.5 million devices.
