Some people may enjoy waking up to breakfast in bed. Others, perhaps, would like to awaken to rooster crowing. Few, however, would enjoy waking up to their phone on fire and their bed smoldering.
That was the fate of Reddit user Vizionx1208, who apparently plugged his Samsung Galaxy S3 in to charge before going to sleep. What the user woke up to was a strange squeaking sound not too far from their head.
"So, I woke up, and saw a ton of smoke coming out of my phone - it also smelled REALLY bad," Vizionx1208 said in a post on Reddit. "Half asleep, I jumped out of bed and turned the light on, only to see that my phone was just beginning to go on fire."
Vizionx1208 was quick to grab a glass of water to douse the fiery phone, which was busy burning through the user's bed sheets, comforter and foam mattress pillow. The plastic cover for the Samsung Galaxy S3 apparently exploded, burning off a small piece of skin on the user's pinky finger.
For evidence, Vizionx1208 posted an album of the offending phone on imgur.com.
This, of course, isn't the first incident of a phone blowing up on its user. In March of 2012, one Colorado woman woke up to hear her iPhone 4 sizzling and popping on the nightstand next to her. Earlier this year, a battery for a 2011 Samsung Galaxy Note exploded in a man's pocket, giving him second-degree burns and a one-inch wound, according to CNET.
A good deal of these explosions are the result of overheated lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly used to power smartphones and mobile devices. Indeed, Vizionx1208 posted a tell-tale image of a bloated battery pack, which is commonly associated with an overheated device.
Laptop and handset manufacturers, ranging from Nokia, Apple, Dell and Hitachi have recalled products due to overheating and explosive batteries. Even the Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplane was grounded in response to small onboard fires stemming from the airplane's lithium-ion battery system.
There is, also, a possibility that Vizionx1208 has simply created an elaborate ruse in order to attract attention. Such fiery deceptions have taken place before. Currently Vizionx1208 is looking to see if he has a product liability case against Samsung and its Galaxy S3 phone.
