A routine late-night charge turned dangerous for a family in Qingdao, China, when their Samsung Galaxy S25+ suddenly popped, smoked, and caught fire.
The incident occurred on the night of July 31, while the phone was plugged in and the owner's wife was sleeping.
A loud pop and the smell of smoke woke her, and she managed to extinguish the fire. No one was injured.
The owner reported the incident to Samsung the next morning.
Initially, a local service center was assigned, but after delays, the phone was taken to Samsung's Nowon Service Center in South Korea on August 5.
On August 12, Samsung concluded that the phone had been dropped, creating a hole in the battery, which caused the fire when charging.
They labeled it customer negligence and refused compensation.
The owner disputes this, arguing that the broken back glass appears to have been blown out by the battery fire itself, not from a prior drop.
He requested the detailed analysis report and the regulations justifying the denial, but Samsung refused, citing the report as company property and warning against spreading false information.
This incident adds to a series of reported Galaxy S25-series battery fires over the past year, including a Galaxy S25+ in October 2025, another in January 2026, and a Galaxy S25 FE in May 2026.
Separately, an incident in India this month involved a 26-year-old suffering serious burns after a Samsung phone caught fire in his pocket.
The model was not confirmed, but images suggest a Galaxy S26-series device.
It remains unclear whether these incidents stem from user negligence or underlying quality issues with the models.
