I've been covering Android and other mobile technology for close to ten years now, with a specific interest in phone accessories, e-readers, and what makes each individual phone different from another. I delight in looking at the phone market from as many angles as possible, and while my opinions may be odd, at times, they're always from the heart as much as the head.
I have a background in the mobile accessories world, which explains my odd enthusiasm for cases and things that clip onto smartphones.
Some Samsung Galaxy Watch users have reported finding rather severe-looking burns on their wrists after wearing their Galaxy Watches overnight.
This latest report concerns the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, and comes from a Redditor, who noticed a horrific burn on their wrist, seemingly from their Galaxy Watch (via Phone Arena). Considering Samsung's troubled past with exploding smartphones, this sort of injury is sure to make people wonder whether they should be wearing their smartwatches to bed anymore.
Rapidly discharging smartwatch causes a burn on the owner's wrist
Maybe strapping batteries to our arms is a bad idea
We all know electronics can be a bit of a safety hazard, but on the whole, it feels like our gadgets are safer than not. That is, until we're proven wrong.
That happened recently for Redditor u/ksima_03, who reported their situation on the r/Samsung Galaxy community. According to them, they went to bed with their fully-charged, three-year-old Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, and woke up with an unresponsive smartwatch and a significant burn-like mark on their wrist.
While skin irritation with wearables does happen, it's rare it gets to the state where it causes such a blister. Plus, add the fact the smartwatch in question is supposedly completely dead, and it seems obvious that something has gone very wrong with it.
Alarmingly, this is far from the first time a Samsung smartwatch has caused damage on this level. Android Authority was able to dig up multiple occasions where a smartwatch has caused similar burn-like marks on owners. With those examples including the Galaxy Watch 7, Watch 8, and even some of the Galaxy Ultra models, it's clear this isn't a problem that's linked to specific models.
So what's actually going on here? Well, not to defend Samsung, but this is likely just a problem with lithium-ion batteries as a whole. Sometimes, electronics can go wrong, and that can lead to situations like this, where burned wrists are caused by an overheating device. While some of the examples above could easily be simple contact dermatitis, rather than a burn, some are clearly burn-like in look and could be down to a device malfunction.
So should Samsung wearable owners be worried? Honestly, probably not.
If this was a major and widespread problem, we'd be seeing a lot more of it. There are a lot of Samsung smartwatches out there, and if this was a big problem, then we'd be seeing a lot more instances like this.
The sad truth is, sometimes this happens. We've seen similar isolated cases with Oura Rings, and with Samsung's history, people are always a little more wary whenever it happens on a Galaxy device.
In this specific case, it's probably a problem with an aging device and a potentially faulty battery. While u/ksima_03's warranty is likely to be up, it's possible Samsung may be willing to offer them something, given they were injured by their device.
For the rest of us, it's worth considering whether it's really worth sleeping with your device.
We have reached out to Samsung for comment on this story, and will update when we hear back.