Samsung Electronics Co said investigators have determined that the Galaxy S III that spontaneously burst into flames in Ireland a few weeks back, was caused by an external energy source, the company said in a statement on Saturday.
An Irish user 'dillo2k10' posted on a message board in June that he/she had been using the Galaxy S III in a car mount "when suddenly a white flame, sparks and a bang came out of the phone".
The Korean hardware maker said an independent assessment by Fire Investigations UK (FIUK) found that "the energy source responsible for generating the heat has been determined as external to the device".
The world's top smart phone maker released the new Galaxy S series in Europe in late May and in the United States last month. It is the strongest rival to Apple's iPhone to date.
Samsung added it had provided FI-UK with several Galaxy S III phones, including the burnt smart phone, in order for them to run a range of tests to determine how the fire by its Irish customer was caused.
"Additionally, the investigation results state, 'The only way it was possible to produce damage similarly to the damage recorded within the owner's damaged device was to place the devices or component parts with a domestic microwave,'" Samsung said on its official global blog.
Meanwhile, the same person that said their Galaxy S III burst into flames retracted their message by posting another message on the same message board on Friday, saying there was "no fault with the phone" and suggesting someone else had caused the burns when trying to dry out the Galaxy S III.
"The damage to the phone was caused by another person, although they were attempting to recover the phone from water, this later caused the damage shown on the phone," 'dillo2k10' wrote. "This was not a deliberate act but a stupid mistake."
