iPhone 6 Plus explodes in Hong Kong (literally)

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The iPhone 6 Plus is one of the hottest phones out there.
Photo: Apple Daily

The Chinese iPhone market is exploding, but perhaps a bit too literally for one Hong Kong woman, who claims that her 128GB iPhone 6 Plus exploded while being charged — not only separating the screen from the handset, but significantly melting the back cover.

The owner says she plugged the charger into the iPhone at 1am on Saturday, leaving it on the desk next to her bed. She was awoken around seven hours later by a loud bang, and a burning iPhone.

While the woman wasn’t hurt, she says she is asking for compensation from Apple. She claims she was using authentic Apple products, including the charger, although she notes that she was using an iPad charging cable — which shouldn’t make any difference.

Lo Kok-kung from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University told Chinese tabloid the Daily Apple that the incident could be the result of a short circuit or overcharging.

“The auto power cut-off feature of the handset for charging could have been out of order, hence the battery was overcharged and exploded due to excessive heat,” Lo said.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about exploding Apple products, although they are very rare. Last year, a plane on its way to Prague had to be evacuated after an iPhone 5 caught fire in a passenger’s bag. In 2013, an iPad exploded in Australia, causing severe damage to a Vodafone store in Canberra. In another instance, a flaming iPhone 5c set a girl’s pants on fire.

While it’s not reported as part of today’s story, it is likely that Apple will request the iPhone 6 Plus in question so that it can make its own investigations. Still, with record-breaking number of iPhone 6 units having sold since last September, I think it’s safe to say that this isn’t in any way a widespread fault.

Source: EJInsight

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