‘New nightmare just dropped’: Samsung Galaxy Ring battery swells and traps itself on man’s finger before flight

A man’s smart ring malfunction ended with an unexpected trip to the hospital and a seriously frustrating missed flight because the battery in his Samsung Galaxy Ring started swelling while it was on his finger. Daniel, a tech content creator who goes by @ZONEofTECH, shared the alarming incident on X, posting photos of the device visibly bulging against his finger.

He explained that the problem started just as he was preparing to board a plane, and the swelling developed in the span of “about 30-40 minutes.” The situation quickly went from inconvenient to an emergency. Daniel posted, “Ahhh…this is…not good. My Samsung Galaxy Ring’s battery started swelling. While it’s on my finger. And while I’m about to board a flight Now I cannot take it off and this thing hurts. Any quick suggestions @SamsungUK @SamsungMobileUS?”

He followed up with a close-up image that showed the expanding battery, noting, “Closeup. You can see the battery expanding. Not great for something that’s now stuck to my finger,”. Since the ring’s outer shell is apparently made of titanium, the battery had nowhere to expand but inward, pushing against his finger.” So first the phones expand, and now the rings?

Samsung rings are dangerous

The timing couldn’t have been worse, and because of the swollen lithium-ion battery, he was denied boarding his connecting flight. This was after he’d already been “travelling for ~47h straight,” he wrote, adding, “this is really nice”. Attempts to remove the ring at the airport with soap and hand cream seemed to make matters worse, as they caused the swollen battery to expand further. He later wrote that he was sent to the hospital “as an emergency”, where medical staff finally managed to remove the device safely using ice to reduce swelling and a medical lubricant.

Daniel then concluded his harrowing experience with a blunt declaration: “Won’t be wearing a smart ring ever again”. It turns out this wasn’t an entirely unexpected failure for Daniel. When asked by a commenter how long he’d had the ring, Daniel replied that he’d owned it since January 2025 and suspected a battery issue before the swelling.

He noted the battery life had dropped significantly, saying it “stopped lasting for more than 1.5 days” compared to the advertised seven days he got when he first owned it. He also stated that “Reddit is full of reports of Galaxy Rings batteries dying super quickly, so it’s not just me”. When the major swelling happened, the device “had no battery juice left in it”.

The incident drew widespread attention, with many on X expressing shock and concern. One user simply said, “new nightmare just dropped”. Others questioned the fundamental design, with one person tweeting, “Who would’ve thought that putting a battery that could expand and explode on a ring would be not such a good idea”. Another commenter focused on the failure mode, pointing out, “The problem isn’t the battery. The problem is the failure mode. Expanding outwards wouldn’t have been a problem. Expanding inwards?”.

For its part, Samsung’s official UK account responded to Daniel’s initial tweet within about 15 minutes, and a Samsung spokesperson later released a statement calling the case “extremely rare”. They added, “The safety of customers is our top priority. This is an extremely rare case, and we are in direct contact with Mr. Rotar to retrieve the product and learn about the concerns”.

Daniel later confirmed that Samsung had reimbursed him for the hotel expenses and travel costs back home, and they collected the faulty ring for further investigation. I guess it’s time to call in the Samsung girl to save the day again.