A Chinese man in the Gansu province died when the battery in his Motorola cell phone exploded, the Chinese press reported last week.

 Both Motorola and Nokia phones and batteries reportedly failed recent safety tests, but both companies said those products were counterfeited in China's Guangdong province, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

"One of the alleged Motorola phones tested was not even a model we make," said a company spokesman.

The phone troubles come at a time when Chinese-made products, from pet food and seafood to toy trains, have been found faulty and possibly deadly, the Tribune reported.

Motorola said its Chinese-made batteries come from suppliers that pass "strict vendor requirements." The lithium batteries have more energy density than previous generations of batteries, said Nokia spokesman Keith Nowak. As a result, counterfeiting is of added concern because it involves a potentially combustible material.

"In the old days, if a battery went bad the phone went dead," Nowak said. "It's a whole different matter now where something more serious can happen."