REMEMBER how Samsung had faulty batteries that caused a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 because smartphones kept exploding?

Well, the company affiliate responsible for manufacturing the faulty batteries has been embarrassed once more, as one of its factories in China burst into flames.

Despite manufacturing batteries at the plant, Samsung SDI claim the fire was “minor” and was caused by a pile of discarded batteries in its waste facility - not those currently on the production line.

Samsung added there was no casualties or significant enough damage to cease the plant’s operations.

more picture about Samsung SDI in tianjin is on fire… pic.twitter.com/Ui6J4mGwSj — 萌萌的电教 (@mmddj_china) February 8, 2017

Despite making it sound minor, the local fire department were required to send 110 firefighters and 19 trucks to put out the fire.

“[The] material that caught fire was lithium batteries inside the production workshops and some half-finished products,” the fire department said in a post on its verified Sina Weibo account, reports Reuters.

Regardless of the cause, the incident is a bad look for the Samsung, with the affiliate company supplying the batteries for Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone Galaxy S8.

Samsung SDI was one of two suppliers that provided batteries for the recalled phones — an issue the tech giant claimed cost it $A6.9 billion in operating profit.

Since the incident, the South Korean company invested $A170 million into safety.

Samsung will be hoping this latest setback doesn’t lose consumer trust with the upcoming S8 device, as the company is hoping to become the world’s biggest smartphone maker once again — Apple overtook the South Korean giant earlier this month.

The S8 is rumoured to include the 3.5mm headphone jack, an edge-to-edge screen and iris scanner.