Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, iPhone
Apple: "Exploding" iPhones succumbed to external pressure
There's been much news of "exploding" iPhones lately. If you're unfamiliar with the story, the European Commission formally asked Apple to investigate a series of reports that users' iPhones were abruptly cracking and/or catching fire. According to the French periodical Les Echos, an iPhone in Aix-en-Provence, France, started to "crackle and pop like a deep-frier" before breaking violently apart.This past Friday, Apple said that, in all cases, the iPhones in question were damaged by an "external force," not a faulty battery or glass screen:
"To date, there are no confirmed battery overheating incidents for iPhone 3GS and the number of reports we are investigating is in the single digits. The iPhones with broken glass that we have analyzed to date show that in all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone."It does seem odd that at least four cases have been reported in France in short order. Still, it's even stranger that iPhones would suddenly turn into Molotov cocktails. We'll keep you updated on this story.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
SteveX said 11:42PM on 8-30-2009
Kinda funny this is all coming out right now.
I bout my new 3Gs on friday, let the battery die out, then charged it over night. Woke up to it like this.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32931234&l=57a071efdf&id=33708266
took it to apple the next day and was given a new one in 10 mins... kinda shady they would just take mine and give me a new one. perhaps to shut me up.
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gus17 said 11:53PM on 8-30-2009
That's not shady... That's what they do when anything's wrong with an iPhone. They've given me two new ones, once when it wouldn't turn on, and once when the ringer switch fell off.
Just standard procedures.
waiownsyou said 12:03AM on 8-31-2009
WOW!
hoodedxsaints said 12:40AM on 8-31-2009
That seams fake to me. Got Irvin Friday, yet you have the old aim app? And it just popped over night? If it is real your charger probably over heated the phone. Happens when you use a bad outlet sometimes.
hoodedxsaints said 12:41AM on 8-31-2009
Irvin=iPhone. Dumb autocorrect
Steven said 12:49AM on 8-31-2009
It just means he had an iPhone or iPod Touch before and already had the app.
GeoFul said 10:43AM on 8-31-2009
I awoke with my 3Gs with the screen completely cracked as well, except that it must have fallen onto the carpeted floor the next morning. But there was nothing that would have caused enough impact a couple of feet to the floor. We have no idea how the screen cracked. The whole thing was a mystery. Took it to Apple immediately and they would not replace it for free even though it was only 14 days old - not that we expected it. Had to buy a new one (they did give me a replacement price). Still puzzled, not annoyed with Apple, but there was no sympathy at the Genius Bar whatsoever.
Izzy said 3:52PM on 8-31-2009
Something doesn't seem right about that photo, not sure what it is though. Yes I know the screen appears cracked. But when glass cracks there is there should be a slight distortion where the crack is supposed to be.
SteveX said 12:01AM on 8-31-2009
Yea, but not turning on is a software/hardware issue, covered under warranty, the ringer switch falling off is a defect, also under warranty.
A broken screen normally lands under carelessness by someone dropping it, and they don't give you a new one for that unless you have the apple care package from when you bought the phone. I watched three other people who brought in a phone that was "dropped" and they told them there was nothing they could do.
I didn't have the care package, nor did my phone look like it was dropped in anyway. The guy immediately swapped me a new one, and was going to send it to apple for analysis.
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waiownsyou said 12:06AM on 8-31-2009
I have a friend that works as a Genius and we've had a conversation before about iPhones not turning on. He says they can fix them in-store most of the time by just plugging it into iTunes in recovery mode. According to him, that usually happens because some "n00b" didn't know how to jailbreak or unlock correctly. But as Apple policy has it, if they accept it, they need to package it and ship it to wherever phones go, regardless if they can fix it on-the-spot.
SteveX said 1:00AM on 8-31-2009
to oodedxsaints,
Trust me man, I wish it was fake so I wouldn't have had to drive a half hour to the AT&T store I got it from, just to have them tell me to take another hour trip to the Apple store to have them give me a new one. huge inconvenience!!!
The aim app is the free one which I've had for a while...
When i charged it over night, I used the USB cable and my mac... my plug is a little far from my bed... lol.
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artifex said 3:54PM on 8-31-2009
Wait... AT&T could sell you the phone, but couldn't deal with warranty replacement?
Stop going to the AT&T store for anything :)
MRLN the Amazing said 1:17AM on 8-31-2009
Need to blow up some enemies? There's an app for that.
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Cy Starkman said 2:03AM on 8-31-2009
I don't know about exploding iPhones but I can get my 3GS to give me electric shocks on demand. Not that I want them, but when plugged in to charge under certain conditions it's like the whole phone becomes an electrical conduit. Feels like little needles sticking into you if you try to use it.
I'm still testing before I contact Apple.
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hunglyka said 2:31AM on 8-31-2009
You might want to check that the outlet you're plugging into is properly grounded. I had a problem with my Macbook Pro shocking me and it turned out to be the outlet. Google "macbook pro shock" and you'll see what I mean.
Cy Starkman said 3:30AM on 8-31-2009
That's a fair call. I don't think that is what is causing it. It's via the USB cable, not plugged into the wall charger.
skalpa said 2:07AM on 8-31-2009
Actually I've read that the complete report explains that having four cases isn't so odd and says they're still investigating further, tracking serial numbers, as this applied "external pressure" could be the consequence of a conditioning / transport accident.
(That would also explain why a completely new device could be able to do this overnight)
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Pedro Figueiredo said 2:45PM on 8-31-2009
They're not acknowledging the "exploding" problem.
This note is simply saying that all the phones with problems that they received was those who falled and cracked the screen, not those reported as exploded.
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robertlam1818 said 8:49AM on 8-31-2009
I think the aliens did it
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Patrick said 9:07AM on 8-31-2009
There are bound to be defects in manufacturing when you are turning-out thousands of these each day......and it makes sense that the defects would show-up in one geographic location (a bad run that day on the assembly line in China). Hence the warranty.
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