The story comes from the Chinese forum Baidu where a bloke called 'Mr. Ni 666666' posted photos of the charred remains of his burned out Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

The user said his Galaxy Note 7 was plugged in at night when he heard a "sudden bang". He then discovered that his phone had burst into flames. It seems that only his bank account was harmed by the explosion.

The Galaxy Note 7 is doing rather well and demand for the Samsung smartphone is outstripping supply. So this story is getting a lot of traction on sites which feel the need to give Jobs’ Mob a free plug.

Ironically the problem is to do with a plug, or more specifically a cable. For some reason known to only God and 'Mr. Ni 666666' he was using a third-party USB-C adaptor rather than the white cable included in the box with the Galaxy Note 7. After all when you have spent your cash on a nice smartphone the first thing you do is plug it into a USB-C cable which has been made by a bloke in a pub out of bits of twig and Number eight fencing wire.

There is a major problem in China with dodgy third-party USB-C cables. Google engineer Benson Leung discovered that manufacturers of a lot of the cheaper versions can’t handle high currents. Amazon has forbidden them from being sold, but in China it is still a little freer.