...that's not an explosion. Only part that really can explode is the battery....
No, the CPU is somewhere inside, not at the edge.
To me looks like something wrong with the connector, or related to the connector/charging. Maybe the USB cable had a defect, or was connected to an ultra high power source. Or the internal charge current control failed.
...ok, let me read it a bit.... (I just read the the original article, OK?)....
So he had the phone in the car dock while driving. I presume the car charger failed and overloaded the phone.
Samsung customer service contacted him, they came to his place and gave him a new phone. Now that's good customer service!