UPDATE: As NBC New York reports, the family of the injured child has clarified that the handset involved in this incident was not a Galaxy Note7 (pictured above) as the New York Post originally claimed, but was in fact a Samsung Galaxy Core.
The cause of the handset"s explosion is still unclear. In a statement to NBC, Samsung said:
We take every report very seriously and have contacted the Lewis family to learn more about their situation. As we are currently looking into this case, we are unable to comment further right now.
Our original article, based on the erroneous New York Post article, is preserved below.
A 6-year-old boy from Brooklyn, NY has been injured after the Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone he was holding exploded in his hands.
Earlier this month, Samsung announced a voluntary recall of its latest Galaxy Note7 flagship, following at least 35 incidents in which the handset caught fire, including some in which its battery exploded. But Consumer Reports criticized the company for failing to implement a formal recall procedure through the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an independent US government agency, which meant that some retailers were able to continue selling the device.
It was only on Friday evening that Samsung finally announced that it was working with the CPSC "on a voluntary corrective action plan to expedite a US recall of the product." In a press release on the same day, the CPSC urged owners to "power down and stop charging or using the device" without delay, pointing out that some of the incidents had occurred "during normal use".
It seems that that"s what happened in this latest incident, which occurred on Saturday night, as the New York Post reports. Linda Lewis said that her 6-year-old grandson "was watching videos on the phone when the battery exploded", adding: "It set off alarms in my house."
The child suffered burns in the incident, but has since been able to return home. However, Lewis said that the boy "doesn"t want to see or go near any phones. He"s been crying to his mother."
She said that the family has been in contact with Samsung, but did not elaborate further. It"s not clear if the family was aware of the advisory notice encouraging owners to stop using the handset.
Source: New York Post