Man who was hospitalized after terrifying ordeal with Samsung fitness ring reveals what caused device to get stuck on finger
A smart ring user whose finger swelled so severely he had to be hospitalized has shared a troubling update on the fiasco.
Daniel Rotar, a British tech YouTuber with over 1.6 million subscribers, posted on X last year that the battery of his $400 Samsung Galaxy Ring swelled while he wore the device.
Rotar was about to board a plane during the terrifying ordeal, but he was denied boarding and rushed to his nearest hospital to have the ring removed.
‘Won’t be wearing a smart ring ever again,’ he said at the time.
Samsung and a third-party agency each initiated investigations of the case. Four months later, Rotar claims the company said the incident was caused by a cracked internal molding.
There was no explanation given about what may have caused this, but a defect like this is often caused by physical damage or a manufacturing error.
‘Samsung tells me that both investigations reached the same conclusion,’ Rotar wrote on X this week.
The company also claimed there was ‘no wider product battery safety risk.’
Pictured above are images of Daniel Rotar’s Samsung Galaxy Ring stuck on his finger last year
However, social media users slammed Samsung’s statement as ‘just some corporate word salad’ and said it ‘did not provide any confidence in continuing use of the Galaxy Ring.’
Samsung’s statement, which Rotar shared on X, reads: ‘Customer safety is our highest priority. Samsung has been in regular contact with Daniel whilst we conducted our investigation.
‘Following an examination by Samsung and then a further analysis by an independent external agency, it was confirmed that the swelling in Daniel’s Galaxy Ring was caused by a crack in the internal [molding] and that there was no wider product battery safety risk.
‘The Galaxy Ring has been designed for everyday wear, with durability at the core. Customer care guides for all our devices can be found at: samsung.com/uk/support.’
Rotar previously said he did not suffer complications from having the ring stuck on his finger, but if left unaddressed, an injury such as this can restrict blood flow, leading to numbness, tingling and potential tissue damage.
The pressure from the stuck ring can also damage nerves in the fingers, restricting movement and potentially leading to permanent loss of sensation and muscle weakness.
Pictured above is the inner molding of his ring, which Samsung says was cracked
Samsung’s investigation concluded that ‘there was no wider product battery safety risk’ (file photo)
It’s unclear exactly why Rotar was denied boarding on a plane during this incident, but airlines have previously prohibited Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 phones due to incidents of the batteries exploding.
Samsung’s 2017 investigation found that the phones were catching on fire because of a fault that was built into the lithium-ion batteries.
There is no evidence that the batteries in Samsung Rings could explode.
X users responded to Rotar’s post with uncertainty and skepticism.
‘What a bunch of corpo slop they sent you,’ one said.
Another wrote: ‘That statement was written by their legal team. Just some corporate word salad to keep you off their scene, and apparently, it worked.’
