Samsung is investigating an incident in which one of its newest Galaxy smartphones allegedly exploded in an Irish user’s car.

The Galaxy SIII, which is considered the iPhone’s strongest rival, was unveiled at the beginning of last month, and went on sale in Europe on May 29th.

Earlier this week, a Dublin-based consumer posted photographs of the damaged smartphone on Boards.ie. "Dillo2k10", a Dublin student, said a "white flame, sparks and a bang" came from the phone while he was driving.

The phone was in a dashboard mount, but was not plugged into a power source at the time of the incident.

"There's no confirmation it was a fault with the phone. It may actually have been caused by a combination of my car mount and my car's heating system," he later added.

The dash mount was an unbranded accessory, and was not a Samsung product.

The Samsung Galaxy SIII was in a car dash-mounted dock when 'a white flame' and sparks came from it. Photograph: Dillo2k10

Samsung said it was aware of the issue and would begin the investigation once it received the product.

“Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details on the situation,” it said in a statement. “We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously.”

This is the first problem of this type with the Galaxy SIII that the company is aware of, the company said.

Heat issues have been reported with other devices. In March, influential consumer watchdog Consumer Reports said Apple's latest iPad tablet threw off a lot more heat than the previous version, lending weight to complaints on internet forums that the device could get uncomfortably warm after heavy use.

Additional reporting: Reuters