WESLACO - A Valley family is shaken up after they say the battery of their son’s ZTE Grand X 4 smart phone exploded as he was going to sleep. They want to warn others about the potential hazard. 

Marcus Sanchez sleeps with his phone next to his head almost every night. On this particular night, Marcus put his phone on his bed side table, instead of on his pillow.

“I was getting ready to go to bed,” he explained. “I was laying down already. I was like half asleep and I started smelling something."
 
Marcus’s brother noticed the smell. He picked the phone up and tried to take it outside as flames bursting out of the battery caused him to drop the phone on their carpet. 
 
“It literally caught fire on the floor,” said Marcus. 
 
The Sanchez family is glad the sparks and flames didn’t burn Marcus’s face. They said they’ve heard about phones exploding but never thought it would happen to them.

Reports of injuries swept the nation earlier this year when a battery and manufacturing defect was linked to the reason why Samsung Galaxy Note 7’s were burning up. This phone isn’t a Samsung product. 
 
CHANNEL 5 NEWS reached out to ZTE USA, the maker of the phone. We asked if they had heard of any other reports of exploding batteries in their other products. We’re still waiting to hear back. 
 
Tony Sanchez, Marcus’ father wants the company to replace the phone with a different model priced at the same value.

The company told the Sanchez’s they would honor the warranty on the phone, but they would only replace it with another of the exact same style.

The Sanchez’s want a different phone because they’re worried another Grand X 4 could have the same issue.