Mi A1 explodes while owner sleeps beside it

Over the past month, there have been a number of high-profile smartphone combustion episodes. A woman in New York claimed her new Galaxy Note 9 went up in flames inside her purse, and a Redditor had their Galaxy S7 Edge explode while sitting on the kitchen counter. Yet another device has gone up in flames but it’s thankfully not a Samsung this time out.

The device in question was an Mi A1,  Xiaomi’s popular Android One phone from last year. According to the account—not a first-hand one, sadly—the A1’s owner went to bed with his phone plugged in beside him, only to wake up and find the phone with severe flame damage. He claimed to have felt the high-temperature fluctuations but didn’t have the presence of mind to check while he was asleep.

Unlike the case of the Note 9 and S7 Edge, this story looks a lot easier to diagnose, as the device was charging when it happened. As such, it’s almost logical to blame the charger used, especially since the narrator didn’t specify if a stock charger was being used. Of course, the fault could as well be from the battery. Li-Po batteries have a non-zero failure rate and will go up in flames under a set of high-pressure/temperature conditions. Best to not leave any charging devices close to you at night, as things could easily go wrong.

The original thread has been deleted, so we have no further information on the episode. We’ll be sure to keep you updated, though.