'Safe' Samsung Galaxy Note 7 exploded, owner from China says

The explosion also left Hui Renjie's MacBook Pro damaged

A man from China has claimed that his "safe" Samsung Galaxy Note 7 exploded, leaving his MacBook Pro damaged.

The news comes as no surprise given how the world's largest smartphone maker was forced into recalling 2.5 million devices after several units of its flagship device exploded due to faulty batteries.

What is unprecedented this time around is that the latest incident has been reported from China, a market Samsung earlier claimed was fault-free as its battery supplier was different from rest.

25-year-old Hui Renjie, who purchased a "safe" Note 7 from online retailer JD.com, claimed his phone had exploded on Monday. Renjie said he had ended up with two burnt fingers and a damaged MacBook Pro in the process.

A photo provided by Renjie to CNN Money shows the aftermath of the fire. PHOTO COURTESY: CNN MONEY

He told CNN that he had plugged in the smartphone overnight only to realise that something was wrong the next morning. The phone began to emit black smoke before bursting into flames, Renjie said.



He refused to handover the phone to Samsung when a representative visited fearing the company wouldn't reveal the real reason for the fire. The black square on the lower right corner of the phone's box label had termed the device "safe".

PHOTO COURTESY: CNN MONEY

When we entered the IMEI number of Renjie's device into Samsung's online Note 7 recall checker, it checked out as safe to use. CNN Money also reported another four instances of battery-related incidents in China.



Samsung said on Tuesday it has gotten back over 60% of recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold in South Korea and the United States. In a statement, Samsung said it had been striving to replace all affected devices “as quickly and efficiently” as possible. The South Korean tech giant once again urged customers affected by the current recall to power off their devices and turn them in.

 

The world’s top smartphone maker announced on Sept 2 a global recall of at least 2.5 million Note 7 smartphones across 10 markets due to faulty batteries leaving devices vulnerable to fires. The company said the replacement devices it began issuing in mid-September were equipped with safe batteries.



This recall didn't include Note 7 phones sold in China. Samsung has declined to further elaborate on what was causing the battery to malfunction. It's widely believed that the problem can be traced back to the battery supplier.

Note 7 phones sold in China use batteries made by China's Amperex Technology Limited. This had reduced fears of the phones exploding in China. The aforementioned turn of events, however, suggests otherwise.

 This article originally appeared on CNN Money.