Another iPhone 4 Self Combusts Just Inches From Its Owner’s Face

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An Australian airline revealed in a press release last week that one of its cabin crew was forced to extinguish an iPhone 4 that very nearly burst into flames shortly after the plane touched down in Sydney. As it turns out, that certainly won’t be the last iPhone to self combust.

An iPhone 4 user in Brazil has experienced a similar scenario with his own handset. While charging just inches away from his face, the device began emitting plumes of smoke and caught fire.

As you can see from the photo above, his iPhone is now in pretty bad shape. It’s a very similar scenario to the one reported by the Australian airline, but in this case it would appear to have been more dangerous, with the device allegedly just a foot from its owners face when it went up in flames. As Redmond Pie reports:

The iPhone in question was on charge just a foot from its owner’s face when it apparently began to smoulder, a sure sign that something isn’t right if you ask us!

While all we can do is speculate at this point, it seems the iPhone’s battery is almost always at fault when these devices combust. As I mentioned in my previous report, except for the device that started smoking on a plane, this issue appears to happen when the iPhone is plugged in and charging.

What’s worrying is that millions of us stick our iPhones on charge before we get into bed at night — often right next to the bed — and with no idea what causes this issue, we have no idea how to prevent it.

Apple is yet to respond to any of these reports, and to be honest, we don’t expect a response from the company at this point. While the issue is indeed a serious one, it has only affected a handful of people since the iPhone launched back in 2007. It’ll need to be far more widespread before Apple decides to comment.

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