iBlown: Beware exploding Apples

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Published time: December 03, 2011 14:15
Edited time: December 03, 2011 18:26

Apple’s iPhone might literally be the hottest touchscreen on the market today, as two sizzling smartphones have reportedly gone up in smoke less than a week apart.

­When Ayla Mota plugged in his iPhone 4 in for an overnight charge, he probably never imagined a ticking timebomb was set to go off as he lay down his head to sleep.  

But the Brazilian would soon receive a rude awakening Wednesday morning, as veritable fireworks were set to fly inches from his face.  

"At dawn, I woke up seconds before witnessing the burning of my iPhone when I saw a lot of sparks and black smoke out of the mobile. My room was filled with the unbearable smell of smoke! At that moment, I turned off the power switch in the room to remove the phone from the outlet," Mota told the Brazilian website TechTudo.

Mr. Mota, who was slightly flustered but uninjured, is the second person to fall victim to a combustible iPhone in recent times.

On November 25, a passenger’s phone on a domestic flight to Sydney, Australia , started “emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow,” according to a statement released by the Domestic carrier Regional Express.  

However, a flight attendant was successfully able to extinguish the red glow, and no one was injured in the incident.  

And while iPhone explosions are quite rare, such incidences have been reported before, as the lithium ion batteries used in the phones have been known to combust in extreme cases.    

Previously, the European Union launched a 2009 investigation after several iPhones and iPod Touches had exploded or caught fire on flights throughout Europe.  

And in 2009, a French teenager was reportedly wounded when her handset began hissing before the screen shattered, allegedly sending a shard of glass into her eye.  

Apple was also forced to recall its first generation of iPod nanos which were sold between September 2005 and December 2006, as the company determined that the overheating batteries posed “a safety risk” to consumers.