Reddit user's Galaxy S6 edge+ battery ruptured and scorched his nightstand

Reddit user ReturnThroughAether reported this morning that his AT&T-brand Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ caught fire on his nightstand as it was charging using the company's first-party AC adapter, scorching his nightstand and giving him quite a scare. He writes:

Woke up this morning (yesterday technically. 12/20) just in time to get ready for work and looked over to find my phone has exploded. Luckily I don't keep it on my bed, as you can see it scorched my night stand. I've talked to Samsung and my carrier. The phone had no problems before, no overheating. I think I'm done with Samsung for a while, really gonna miss the photos I had from Africa in the fall. Dammit Samsung, I was still in your corner after the Note 7 stuff too.

Images credit: /u/ReturnThroughAether

He goes on to say that he previously had a Galaxy S6 edge that, while its battery stayed intact, had experienced battery performance problems before.

Before, during and after the Galaxy Note 7 incident, we heard myriad incidents of Samsung devices rendered useless by ruptured batteries. This is yet another example. While this isn't cause for alarm and a recall of past Samsung products, it is yet another reminder that our phones, which increasingly contain our entire lives, should be treated with caution and charged in places that have little chance of injuring people. Thankfully this situation didn't lead to any personal injuries, but that nightstand is going to need some TLC.

We've reached out to Samsung for comment.

Daniel Bader

Daniel Bader was a former Android Central Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor for iMore and Windows Central. 

110 Comments
  • Yay....I have the S7 Edge. I'm right in between.
  • I'm really starting to worry now. My S7 Edge battery life is pretty bad now compared to when I first got it back in April. There's no overheating or anything, but now there's a chance it might just explode......
    I like Samsung's phones, they usually have all the features I need while keeping a slim profile, but the battery thing really discourage me from getting any more in the future.....
  • The batteries don't explode. Good lord
  • @androidistipdawg Yeah they set on fire - is that supposed to be ok? Crying about the semantics of HOW Samsung f*cked up is pointless isn't it? If it makes you feel better, they f*cked up because their phones set on fire, they didn't f*ck up because their phones exploded. Bottom line? Samsung f*cked up and the Note 7 was a disaster.
  • That's just Samsung's horrible TouchWiz clogging up your system and eating more and resources as you use it. I had to restart my s6 edge daily or it was unusable. Will never own another Samsung phone.
  • Let's ban them all...for the greater good.
  • That's the spirit!
  • heh...LOVE the down votes!
  • Can happen to any phone like the article says. I'm not worried.
  • Yep - after 2 years, my buddy's note 4 started melting while on the charger yesterday. Thankfully he smelled the issue before things started up in flames, but yeah, it seems to be a risk with every piece of hardware.
  • Exactly mate, especially Samsungs!
  • In your head. Maybe check out iPhones, Huaweis and the others that have done the same thing. *shrug*
  • But given how many different versions and other items like dishwasher issue......
  • Yes, and at the same time as the Note 7 issue there was a Nissan recall for 3 of their models because .. the brakes could catch fire randomly. The point is that because 1 model has a lot of issues does not mean everything they made has issues so I'll stick with my assessment that everything produced can have lemons. kthanx.
  • The big difference is that the Nissan brakes are serviceable, the galaxy batteries are not...therefore its a totally different ball of wax.
  • Nissan brakes vs. dish washers .. exactly the same. Both can be repaired. I could put forth 50 other recalls that happened this year but I'll leave it at Samsung isn't special and littled under 100 issues w/ a full recall on 1 model doesn't make them special in the grand scheme of things. It just doesn't. You can say it does but that's opinion not fact. Cheers and Happy Holidays.
  • @aergern Ahhhh, so you're saying that Samsung are just as crap as Apple/Huawei and other manufacturers at the moment. Is that really something to aspire to, or be proud of? I thought Samsung are supposed to be sooooo superior and perfect! Lol. Samsung fanboys will always tell people that Apple/Huawei or any other manufacturer is inferior to Samsung. So why are these other manufacturers suddenly being used as a barometer to be measured by? It's amazing how fanboys suddenly love to compare Samsung to Apple/Huawei etc., when it's a way for you to attempt to justify Samsung's shortcomings with this battery situation. Why don't I ever see you all comparing your Samsung's with other manufacturers when those other manufacturers do something BETTER than Samsung? You can't just compare yourselves to other manufacturers when it suits you! Next time Apple/Huawei or anyone else does something better than on a Samsung device, I gather I will find you all going in comments sections like this telling everyone about that feature and saying how it's better than Samsung's? No? You won't? Well there's a surprise! You're all sad Samsung apologists. Using comparisons when it suits you just shows how desperate you all are to try to justify Samsung's f*ck up. You could, of course, just admit that they're no better than many other manufacturers. But fanboys will never do that will they? Ridiculous people.
  • 1. You should probably go decaf.
    2. I think this is what I actually was saying but you must have problems with English. "You could, of course, just admit that they're no better than many other manufacturers."
    3. You know **** about me so whatever.
    4. I don't have justify a damn thing to you. You expand all that from a few sentences and get all uppity and judgemental. Damn millennials. heh. GET OFF MY LAWN. Have a nice <insert your holiday here>. Sent from my Nexus 6P.
  • Hmmmm 1. You seem rather uptight, maybe you should reach for the decaf too? 2. YOU seem to have English comprehension problems! Here's how the conversation went here: Mstrblueskys said that battery problems can "be a risk with any device". To which MarioCaires replied: "Exactly mate, especially Samsung's" And your reply to Mario was "In your head. Maybe check out iPhones, Huaweis and the others that have done the same thing *shrug*" Maybe you speak a different type of English to everybody else, but that sounds suspiciously like you're defending Samsung and that you're comparing them to other manufacturers in an attempt to say that they're not the only ones with battery problems (and therefore apparently using other manufacturers as a barometer for Samsung to be measured by...). This is what I said you have done! Please explain to me why I need English lessons. It all seems pretty clear cut to me... 3. Correct, I don't know anything about you, but I didn't realise that people can only reply to other people's comments on here if they know them personally. I must have missed that article... 4. Correct, you don't have to justify anything to me, although instantly getting ultra-defensive at the prospect of justifying what you've said is only going to make it look like you're scared of being found out as someone who is talking rubbish. Anybody that knows they have a valid viewpoint would have no problem with the thought of defending what they've said... Sorry, but I'm still on your lawn, infact, I just stamped on a few of your flowers... I look forward to your response. [Insert insincere good wishes here]
  • Lol
  • As long as we keep sticking with lithium ion batteries, this will keep happening. Just like the iPhone that set ablaze in the little girls backpack. I hope we find an alternative sooner rather than later. If it ends up getting someone killed, it's too late. We can't recall that or fix that with a patch.
  • Lithium sulfur is coming soon. Safer and better battery. They just need to make it last longer than the current Lithium based power cells.
  • Lesson of the day: all phones have the potential to explode. Just make sure you're a safe distance from it when the phone decides to die off in a blaze of glory.
  • Do they forget to install Google Photos and have them backup photos over Wi-Fi. Seriously, how can you not. I bet those were awesome photos of Africa.
  • Former Verizon rep, I had to deal with customers weekly that lost their photos because their phone quit working, some of them got very hostile when I said I couldn't restore them because they never backed them up. Best was when they'd lose photos of a deceased loved one, I've had women crying because I couldn't magically restore content from a stolen or water damaged device.
  • Yeah, I have lost photos because of situations like that as well and that's why I prefer phones with SD card slots. There's been times that I've seen damaged phones by water or by drops or whatever but all the media on the SD card is fine. Posted from my unlocked S7 Active/ Jet black iPhone 7+/ peerless Note 4/ or iPad Pro 12.9
  • Not overly concerned here either with "one-off" incidents, this is no where the concern the Note 7 was. My question, why is he going to "miss the photos I had from Africa in the fall". Cause if he didn't have them backed up somewhere else, that is on him.
  • That stood out to me too! Toss it up on OneDrive if you're sticking with Sammy, otherwise auto-upload to Google Photos like a good and simple user!
  • OneDrive lets you auto upload on Android now. If you don't take advantage of automatic backups then I have no sympathy when things like this happen.
  • I can understand people being selective about where you want your stuff, but you have OneDrive (don't know how much free storage), unlimited "compressed" at Google and unlimited as well at Amazon if you are a Prime member. All three do auto upload too. Won't mention Flickr wince its part of Yahoo, and they are the pinnacle of keeping your data safe.
  • I think Microsoft reduced the free storage to about 5GB but don't quote me on that. However as I had an account before the reduction I got the choice to keep the 15GB, I also have 1TB of OneDrive storage through Office 365.
  • Mine auto backup to the cloud, but I also store everything original quality on an external hard drive. Hard drives are cheap, and very easy to use.
  • Exactly what I do, I can't understand why people put all their faith in the devices they own.
  • Why not just use Google photos regardless.
  • Because Google Photos will ONLY backup photos.
  • Yes but it said he was going to miss the "photos". Mine backs up video too. And everything else there is Google drive.
  • I know that, still not sure why Google split that up though.
  • Well, the original always have the best resolution, he will not be able to get those back....
  • Correct, now if he had a Pixel his photos would be backed up at full resolution. Or he could simply choose to have the photos backed up to full resolution.
  • It's funny. Quite a few of the photos of melted Note 7 batteries that were shown on the news during the height of the problems weren't Note 7s at all. I saw several S6 and S7 Edges that were presented as Note 7s yet there doesn't seem to be much in the news about any of these other models now that the Note 7 went away. Clearly there were other Samsung models with issues? Has Samsung even reported any new findings on what the problem was? Have they definitely found it yet? I know that one story claimed the batteries were too big but has Samsung said anything officially?
  • Samsung needs to realize two things:
    1. We're willing to sacrifice 30 minutes of battery life, if it it decreases the chances of catching on fire!
    2. They could recover that 30 minutes by not having a bunch of crap running in the background. Number 2 may have gotten better since my S5A was built, but I imagine there's more that can be done. And yes, I know Android itself has a hand in it, but Samsung seems to be the only one having an exploding phone issue, so I'm picking on them.
  • Or they could make the phone a little thicker resulting in more space for battery
  • No! They can't do that! If my phone isn't as thin as technologically possible I'd rather my phone explode, than be caught dead with a phone that's 10mm thick when it could be 9.5mm thick! Are you daft???
  • lol i know your joking but in all seriousness these phones are getting too thin.
  • I agree so much that I want to buy a Cat S60. That thing is seriously built like a brick. Of course, I want it more for the IR imaging, lol. But it's not super skinny, that's for sure
  • Thin, no bezel, impossible to use and operate one handed.
  • So I guess the N7 was actually thinner than technologically possible.
  • Well, if the lack of tolerance between the case and battery is causing the phones to overheat and the battery to rupture, then whatever was the dimension BEFORE that one is 'as thin as technologically possible'.
    It seems Samsung got some of their techs from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. "Hey will this vehicle go up a 90 degree grade?"
    "I don't know, try it!"
    "No, well back it off 5 degrees and try it again!"
  • 3. We love their phones
  • Some of us, too much
  • Again, not one god damn battery exploded.
  • @androidistopdawg And again, why are you crying about it? They set on fire. That's good is it? The Note 7 was a massive fail. It failed because it set on fire in some cases. It didn't blow up. It wasn't a failure because it blew up, it was a failure because it set on fire. do you feel better now? Has that actually changed anything? No. It was still a failure either way, so what's with the crying over the semantics? But then again, you cry whenever someone says anything bad about Samsung because you can't accept other people's opinions and you can't accept that your beloved Samsung has been proven not to be perfect. And you have the audacity to tell other people to grow up! You obviously aren't very intelligent if you can't see the irony of you saying that.
  • You know, maybe this will finally put an end to the race for thinner phones if the cause really is the phone's casing being too small for the battery.
  • Hopefully. I'd much rather have a bigger phone with a bigger battery that can get me through the day and won't set on fire, rather than a thin phone that needs charging by lunchtime. Many many people think the same. Why manufacturers can't recognise this I have no idea.
  • Makes me sad that these one-off events are worthy of an article after all of the previous articles saying that all lithium ion batteries can do this and that one-off events shouldn't be taken as indicative of the entire line. The end of the article does not excuse the "It's not just the Note 7", which definitely implies the problem is larger than it appears.
  • **** the Samsung company they dont care about us
  • Lol okay.
  • Kmart cares though
  • Why cant people monitor their phones charging? People love fast charging but don't think about how many Amos that thing is pulling from what ever old charger they have plugged in to the 240v wall socket and go to sleep not concerned in the slightest about overcharging the thing and causing dammage to the battery. Its putting a lot of faith in the little charge regulating chip in the phone that was built for the cheapest price they could pay from their supplier. People have got to take some responsibility for all these incidents which are by no means limited to judt samsungs phones. It can and has happened to every manafacturers phone at some stage its just there's a massive ammount of hate for Samsung because of their standing in the android marketplace. Everyone loves to hate the leader. Sick of reading these explosive articles.
  • "whatever old charger"? The Reddit user used the packaged Samsung charger.
  • Bring on the witch hunt!
  • @coolbreeze78... I've never understood your profile pic... are you dumping sand on your head or vacuuming your hair? Not meant to be a jab at all, I'm legitimately curious as to what is being portrayed.
  • Lol, it's a Flobee...basically an 80's era vacuum hair cutter. Just a gimmick photo, it's not me. https://www.flowbee.com/
  • That makes sense now! That's actually kinda a cool invention... The size of the profile icon and the off colored portions of the guy's shirt kinda made it look like he had sand all over him. I see you often enough in these comment sections, I thought I'd just ask once and for all. It is a pretty funny profile pic. Cheers!
  • It's a SuckCut. It sucks, as it cuts!
  • Well, it certainly does suck!
  • Daniel it has become quite obvious you are running a smear campaign any chance you get against samsung.
  • Remember that he's still an apple apologist. Just cause he's now on Android Central, doesn't hide his true colors. Hey Bader, where's the blown up iPhones on imore? Let me help out...
    http://www.phonearena.com/news/Apple-iPhone-6s-catches-on-fire_id86109
  • Sensitive bunch. Any battery in the world has the potential to catch fire. So many factors. This isn't a childish Android vs. Apple war, but carry on I guess. A winner must be crowned, apparently.
  • The title of the article should be a "lithium ion" PSA citing multiple examples of devices across ALL manufacturers on ALL mobile nation sites. Instead Bader uses a clickbait headline and shoves an old samsung device onto the front page to deter phone buyers from picking up a sammy device. If there's something iOS users dislike more than android, it's samsung. If you don't believe me, ask Renee and apparently Daniel.
  • We demand an investigation. Justice must be served. This is an outrage.
  • Or maybe, just maybe, because of the recent problems with the N7 it is related. Sure other phones have exploded, but none so fantastically as a Samsung phone. It stands to reason that it is possible that it is yet another design flaw, just moths I. The making. So as a PSA, don't sleep with your phone. Put it in a safe place that won't burn anything it touches.
  • The Pixel-promotion campaign in full swing here at AC.
  • All because manufacturers think we want thin phones.
  • I wish they would think that we want BIGGER batteries.
  • I think Samsung put quite large batteries in their phones. That may be their problem.
  • Well, alot of us didn't necessarily ask for "thinner" phones, but when words like "sexy, sleek, thin, and compact" are thrown around in the tech world, it is automatically assumed that the devices of tomorrow should be smaller and more capable than today's. Desktop PCs, business machines, laptop with paper thin displays, the ever lasting quest to eliminate bezels, the list goes on. The slogan of 2017 should be "Just make it work". What good is a device if it is fragile, prone to battery failure and can't last a day? I wish they would stop trying to turn these things into high-end virtual reality gaming devices. They do it because they can, not because its a great idea.
  • Of course we all want thin phones, but not at the cost of something else.
  • I think as user, I don't mind sacrificing looks (thiness, bezelless etc).. I'd rather have a thicker device that is not cramming large batteries without keeping tolerances in mind.
  • I have a Note 4 with an extended battery (and therefore new back and LOTS more thickness) and I love it! Truly all-day battery, and I gladly traded the svelte size for it and will do it again! And now I have enough Li-ion to blow up 10 supercomputers!
  • I think as a user, I don't mind sacrificing looks (thiness, bezelless etc).. I'd rather have a thicker device that is not cramming large batteries without keeping tolerances in mind.
  • OMG..... RECALL!!!
  • I remember it well!
  • Which one?
  • I have a Samsung Galaxy S6Edge+. I have used it every day and have charged it on a myriad of available chargers as well as battery cases. NO BATTERY ISSUES. NO HEAT ISSUES.
  • Is it the users fault or Samsungs. Over charing an old phone. Or Samsungs poor cheaply made overpriced phones
  • Samsung phones are far from cheaply made. It's literally a better value than the iphone. Now **** software is another story. S7 = $255 (http://www.recode.net/2016/3/14/11586938/samsungs-galaxy-s7-costs-at-lea...)
    IP7 = $225 (http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/09/21/iphone-7-production-costs/)
  • I'd be upset if my $600+ device toasted itself. Nothing is certain in this life but death and taxes. Batteries biting the dust happens, but not often enough to cause public alarm. (Except the Note 7)
    Samsung should get this guy a refurb S6 Edge plus or heavily discounted S7 Edge
  • That`s a stupid human error and misuse their handset. I used all these devices I never had any issues. People over charging their devices and mostly when they are playing games or watching YouTube or using the wrong cheap chargers..
  • The Reddit user did NOT the wrong charger.
  • I'll keep my iPhone thanks.
  • So, based on one you do an article calling into question the entire Galaxy line? I know you want the Pixel to be used by all, but come on...
  • Wait. A nightstand is still a thing?
  • Maybe not if you live in a cardboard box. But us who live in actual houses still use them NIGHTLY!
  • No excuse not to have pictures backed up.
  • Of course they were using the correct charger and the cable was in good shape...that's why they are shown in the photo with the phone...
    After all the recent circus about lithium batteries - not just Samsung's, you would think folks would stop leaving their devices charge overnight at all, much less next to their beds.
  • Several years ago my PT Cruiser car caught fire. I'm surprised we don't hear more stories of phones catching fire. After all there are what, a billion, mobile phones in use around the globe.
  • Might put asbestos sheet on my nightstand.. and the fire extinguisher nearby! 😄
  • Asbestos - LOL
    Just use a ceramic dinner plate...
  • Can someone explain to me how a modern device can possibly be over-charged when the devices internals control the wattage it takes on? Just curious. And, if anyone tries to bull$hit me into believing that a modern electronic device takes a charge the same way a lead-acid battery does in a car, you might as well just drop it. The next time I charge my Passport, I'll take a photo of the charge cycle. Maybe you can explain how it takes on a large amount at first, then drops to a near trickle when almost fully charged. When it is fully charged, it barely takes on anything. I have my doubts that Samsung devices charge differently.
  • I expect better from from you Bader. The "it's not just the Note 7" heading stinks of sensationalism and you should be above that when reporting on what seems to be a fairly isolated incident. Fair enough that the article itself was more fair handed but the heading isn't and many won't read the full text. Are we verging into clickbait territory?
  • But is it not true sachmojo? did this galaxy NOT catch fire? did it NOT burn the table, did It NOT nuke the users information on the phone? Truth hurts sometimes.
  • So his phone explodes and gives off noxious fumes, and the dude wakes up in time to go to work and just happens to notice his phone had exploded? Uh huh.
  • I have a Galaxy S6. I only ever used it supervised because I noticed on Ultra fast charging the phone and Samsung charger that came in the box got very hot at the charging end. It worried me. It was only ever plugged in for 30 or 40 mins. It started to take longer to charge, then at the phone end the plastic covering the wires melted and exposed wires scorched with scorch marks on the connector. I reported it to Samsung as well within the warranty and they weren't interested and my phone provider told me that S6 chargers were no longer available and sent me a charging cable and moulded in plug of a generic brand that was a slow charger but also got very hot as it took the phone about 3 hrs to charge. Plus the cable was around 6 inches long so not long enough to even put on a low coffee table. I wrote to Samsung again, I got sent a very cheap generic very short and stiff black charging cable and no plug charging unit. I now use an Amazon fast charger and cable. It works it takes considerably longer he original Samsung did and it can get very hot so I never, ever charge overnight, always use a stand so it has 360° ventilation. I do think trying to drastically cut charging times has the pay off that the increased amount of energy taken up is bound to have some energy loss in the form of heat which occasionally causes things to get burned. I think if this heat given out caused batteries to explode on a regular basis we would probably see mini air conditioners or fans to cool devices as they are charging. I do believe this happens to all brands and types of devices and not just Samsung phones.
  • Time to bring back removable batteries Samsung
  • Totally agree.
  • NOthing to do with removable or not....all to do with the amount of space that is given to the said batteries. IMO what is happening is that the batteries will swell slightly from charging, and where there is so little space they are shorting out causing heat and "explosions". The apple battery problem was different, their batteries were faulty to which they would just SWELL to pop. This is a different situation where even the slightest "normal" swelling of the battery causes the short and away we go. All batteries swell somewhat when charging...most times its very small amounts and with older phones where the drive to be the thinnest was not as much a concern, it never happened to be a problem. simple.
  • Has nothing to do with removable or not? I disagree. I have had batteries swell that were removable. The phone didn't explode, the pressure on the removable back made it start to dislodge. It became noticeable when it didn't seal well anymore. I was then able to remove the battery and replace it with a new one. The fact it was removable meant the phone was not sealed so tight that the pressure cause it to rupture. In a sealed phone I would have never noticed this until.........boom.
  • I have many phones where the battery was not removable...but they were thicker, and never had an issue with flaming samsungs of death.
  • I had 2 perfectly fine Note 7 phones that were always cool to the touch and I never had an issue with them either. Doesn't mean they would have never developed issues though.