Youtuber in a bind: Swollen Galaxy Ring battery triggers emergency at airport

A well-known YouTuber had a painful experience with a Samsung Galaxy Ring at an airport. Because the wearable's battery swelled, he was unable to board a flight and ended up in the hospital instead.

The cause is still unknown, but Samsung is likely highly alarmed by an incident in which a Galaxy Ring's swollen battery left a well-known tech YouTuber in a bind. The South Korean company is likely not the only one who still remembers the Galaxy Note 7 battery debacle , which resulted in millions of smartphones being destroyed.

The "Ring Affair" certainly can't be compared to this, but it's still spectacular. Firstly, the mishap happened to Daniel Rotar, whose YouTube channel ZoneofTech has over 1.6 million subscribers. Secondly, the situation turned out to be really bad for the influencer.

To the hospital instead of on the plane

Rotar said he had already been traveling for about 47 hours when he was about to board another plane. Shortly before boarding, however, the battery of his Galaxy Ring swelled. "Now I can't take it off and it hurts," he posted on X at that moment.

About two and a half hours later, Rotar wrote that he had ultimately been denied boarding due to the defective wearable device. He had to pay for a hotel room, wouldn't be home until the next day, and had been sent to the hospital as an emergency.

Ice and lubricant help

The YouTuber claims that they were able to remove the ring with ice and medical-grade lubricant. Soap and cream only made things worse. On a support page , Samsung recommends using cold water and soap and keeping your hand elevated, among other things, for stuck rings.

Rotar posted photos of the removed ring, clearly showing the swollen battery. He's certain: "I will never wear a smart ring again."

Samsung: "Extremely rare case"

Samsung has since responded to a query from Android Authority , stating that this is an "extremely rare case." Customer safety is their top priority, and they have contacted Rotar to learn more about the incident and investigate the defective device.

The YouTuber, who had attended an event hosted by chip manufacturer Qualcomm in Hawaii, later wrote on X that the ring's battery only lasted 1.5 days at the time, instead of the seven days stated by Samsung. He suspects the heat in Hawaii, possibly combined with salt water, as well as two previous flights, may have killed the battery.

Not an isolated case

It's unknown how often similar Galaxy Ring issues have occurred; it's possible that only a very small number of devices are affected. However, this isn't an isolated incident, as evidenced by a Reddit user's post four months ago containing photos similar to those shared by Daniel Rotar.

" Sammobile " points to further user complaints about the increased battery consumption of their ring. For some, it's so high that the Galaxy Ring loses about 1 percent of its charge every two minutes, rendering the device virtually unusable.