Recently, there was a report about the explosion of a Samsung smartphone on a passenger plane at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Shortly after the plane landed, one of the passengers' Samsung Galaxy A21 caught fire.
The flight attendants acted quickly and used fire extinguishers and special packs to seal the batteries to prevent the fire from spreading. This, however, did not prevent a complete burnout of the battery and the smartphone. Because of the heavy smoke from the fire, the flight attendants had to open an emergency exit to evacuate passengers.
There were 129 passengers and 6 crew members on board. However, after the incident, two passengers were sent to the hospital for examination.
Perry Cooper, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle, said in an email to The Seattle Times:
“After much searching, I can tell you that the phone is burnt beyond recognition. However, during an interview with one of the Port of Seattle police officers, the passenger revealed that it was a Samsung Galaxy A21 phone. Again, we couldn't confirm this by looking at the remains of the device."
Samsung will conduct a full-scale investigation
At this time, there is no official confirmation that the smartphone is indeed the Samsung Galaxy A21. However, the South Korean manufacturer made an official statement about the incident yesterday.
The company emphasized that safety remains the company's top priority. She also promised a full investigation into the Seattle incident. After an investigation, it can decide whether to recall the model or not.
The Samsung Galaxy A21 is an entry-level smartphone of 2020 that comes with a 4000mAh battery. It is important to note that any device with a lithium-ion battery is potentially a fire risk.
This is obviously an isolated case and does not mean that the Galaxy A21 has any problems. Over the past years, there have been several separate events at various brands. But this does not mean that smartphones or batteries are bad.
This isn't the first time Samsung has faced a smartphone explosion. Although the company has had many similar incidents in recent years, the most notable of them is the case of the Galaxy Note 7 2016.
The South Korean manufacturer had to recall the entire Galaxy Note 7 at a huge cost. However, this action was necessary to prevent further harm to users of this smartphone at the time.
