Smoking, popping Samsung Galaxy Note 7 prompts Southwest evacuation

October 5, 2016

A Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the kind of cellphone that has been recalled for overheating batteries, began popping and smoking Wednesday morning aboard a Southwest Airlines, sparking the evacuation of the flight while still on the ground at Louisville.

The incident brings more damage to Samsung’s reputation and calls into question the very future of the Note 7 itself, a phone that was highly regarded when it first hit the market in late August, before reports began to surface about batteries that caught fire.

Making matters worse, the device was apparently one of the replacement handsets that the South Korean company had previously deemed “safe.” Now it appears that the issue is far from settled.

The Southwest incident happened about 9:15 a.m. as Flight 994 to Baltimore was boarding. Arson investigators confirmed that a Samsung phone overheated, leading to smoke in the cabin, according to WHAS-TV reporter Rachel Platt.

Nobody was injured, but the incident caused enough smoke to force evacuation of the plane and the flight was canceled.

Sarah Green of New Albany told The Courier-Journal of Louisville that her husband, Brian, was waiting to take off to Baltimore when his Galaxy Note 7 overheated. He called her from another person's phone a little after 9 a.m. to tell her what happened.

"He said he had just powered it down, when it made a popping noise and started smoking," Sarah Green said. "He took it out of his pocket and threw it on the ground."

Green said her husband's phone was a replacement Galaxy Note 7 after Samsung recalled the phone in mid-September because of "serious fire and burn hazards." They took the phone in about two weeks to a local AT&T Store to have it replaced.

Samsung expressed skepticism the incident involved a new Note 7.

“Until we are able to retrieve the device, we cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note 7," the company said in a statement. "We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause. Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share."

An airport spokeswoman, Natalie Ciresi-Chaudoin, said 75 people aboard the Boeing 737 evacuated without incident

Southwest Airlines said in a statement that a customer reported smoke emitting from an electronic device, but that passengers were able to evacuate calmly through the main cabin door because the plane hadn't left the gate.

If you want the fastest Android phone in the US, you can pre-order Google's Pixel phone starting at $649, and get it around October 20th. There is another option, though -- ASUS will release its 5.7-inch Deluxe Special Edition ZenFone 3 smartphone with the same Snapdragon 821 processor in the US for $799 by the end of the month. Both have metal unibodies, but the ASUS is the flashier of the two.

For many, the ability to get Android updates first on Google's Pixel devices or use the Daydream headset will be a deciding factor. But the ZenFone 3 does have a few things going for it -- it has 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB, 256GB of (expandable) UFS II storage (instead of 128GB max on the Pixel) and is the first device with Sony's new Exmore IMX318 23-megapixel rear camera sensor. Both have 1080p screens, but the 5.5-inch Pixel XL sports a Quad HD display and significantly higher $869 price tag.

If both of those options are too rich, ASUS has tamer variants of the ZenFone 3, including the Deluxe 5.7-inch 4GB model with a mere Snapdragon 820 for a very decent $499. The 5.5-inch Deluxe sports a mid-range Snapdragon 625 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a $399 price tag.