A 6-year-old boy has reportedly been burnt by an exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7

A 6-year-old boy has been injured by an exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, New York Post reports.

It's just the latest episode in the colossal fiasco that has been Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, with the company's stock dropping nearly 6% on Monday.

The Note 7, on release in August, was extremely well reviewed. But public opinion quickly soured on reports of dozens of the devices exploding, and the South Korean company ultimately issued a recall - a move that may cost it $1 billion.

The 6-year-old, from Brooklyn, New York, was reportedly using the phone on Saturday when it "suddenly burst into flames," burning his body. He had to go to hospital, and has since returned home, his grandmother told New York Post: "He doesn't want to see or go near any phones. He's been crying to his mother."

A Samsung spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

But the company - and US authorities - is recommending that anyone who has a Galaxy Note 7 turns it off right now, and returns it in exchange for a non-defective unit. (This isn't going super-smoothly however, with Gizmodo reporting that many carriers don't have replacement phones - and customers are potentially waiting for weeks to get one.) Likewise, airlines are warning passengers not to use the dangerous handsets (or to charge them) mid-flight.

Exploding Note 7 phones have been causing serious damage, according to reports. A Florida man says his Jeep caught fire after he left his phone charging in the vehicle, and one also allegedly exploded in a hotel room, causing $1,400-worth (£1,050) of damage.

As a high-end smartphone, the Note 7's key rival is Apple's iPhone. Expectations for the iPhone 7, launched earlier this month, were tepid - making it a real possibility that the Samsung Note 7 would be the best phone of 2016.

Instead, it's one of the most catastrophic screw-ups in smartphone history.