Teenager’s Galaxy S4 catches on fire while under her pillow

A 13-year old girl in Texas had a rude awakening in the middle of the night not because the alarm on her smartphone went off or she received an unexpected call, it was actually because her smartphone caught fire underneath her pillow. Ariel Tolfree placed her Samsung Galaxy S4 under her pillow before going to sleep. Thankfully she smelt it burning and was able to take action before the burning phone caused any damage to her person. Tolfree’s dad told KDFW that the entire phone had melted, the plastic, the glass, everything. “You can’t even really tell that it was a phone.”

It’s becoming increasingly common for people in our ultra-connected society to sleep with their smartphones next to them or even under their pillows so nary an email or instant message will escape our attention. Texan Ariel Tolfree recently learned the consequences of doing just that. The 13-year-old girl was recently awoken by her Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone smoldering silently but pungently under her pillow. She told KDFW she placed the phone under the pillow before she fell asleep. Later that night, she smelled something burning. ‘I didn’t think much of it, so I went back to sleep and then I woke up again and it was more prominent,’ Tolfree said. Under her pillow, she discovered her phone charted and partially melted. Her sheets, mattress and pillow were also scorched. Her father said the phone must have overheated, causing the battery to swell and start a small fire. A spokesperson for Samsung told the Fox affiliate that the battery inside the phone was a replacement unit and not an original Samsung battery.