Samsung’s safe, replacement Galaxy Note 7 units have been trickling their way into consumers' hands for a couple of weeks now, with most old units getting exchanged for new ones and several carriers now selling the safe models. However, one owner of a new version has encountered the same problem that affected the old Note 7s.
A Galaxy Note 7 overheated and starting smoking on a Southwest Airlines flight this morning. The owner, Brian Green, says that he powered down his phone on the plane and put it in his pocket, but then it began smoking. After then being dropped on the floor, the device is said to have burned through the plane’s carpet and scorched the subfloor.
No one was injured, and after the phone began smoking, everyone evacuated the plane and the flight was canceled.
What’s notable about this news is that Green says that he has a new Galaxy Note 7 that’s not supposed to overheat. The phone was acquired from an AT&T store on September 21, says Green, and a photo of his phone’s packaging shows a black box on the label, which indicates that the phone inside is a “safe” unit.
In a statement to USA Today, Samsung said, “We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause.”
If this smoking Note 7 is indeed a new model, it could be a big deal for Samsung. The recall of the old Note 7 units wasn’t exactly great news for Samsung, but the company worked to get safe Note 7s into customers’ hands. Now there’s news that a replacement Note 7 overheated, too, which is bad news for the Note 7’s name and for Samsung. The company says that it’s looking into the device and the reason why it overheated, and it’ll be interesting to see how Samsung responds.
