Another iPhone 8 Plus handset with an allegedly swollen battery has been discovered in China, following multiple reports of similar instances.
Chinese state media is reporting that an iPhone buyer named Liu received a newly purchased iPhone 8 Plus in the mail, which arrived cracked open on October 5. The iPhone reportedly had no signs of scorching or an explosion, and Liu says he did not charge the handset.
Splitgate or an overreaction?
While the number is in the single figures, similar reports of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus handsets splitting open have now emerged in China, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, and Canada. In many of these cases, iPhones were delivered to customers’ houses in this defective state. In the most notable incident so far, a Taiwanese customer reported putting her iPhone 8 Plus onto charge, only to have it almost immediately begin bulging, before the front panel lifted away completely from the device.
Given that Apple produces millions of iPhone handsets, a tiny number of faulty batteries is to be expected. However, the media is on high alert given that the iPhone 8 is rumored to share a battery maker with Samsung’s ill-fated Samsung Galaxy Note 7.
That particular handset caused Samsung no end of trouble — including causing the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines flight after a passenger’s Note 7 emitted a thick gray-green smoke and burned a hole in the plane’s carpet. Samsung wound up recalling the handsets, after tracing the problem to an issue with the handsets’ lithum-ion batteries.
In the case of the Note 7, more than 100 instances of battery faults were reported.
Have you had any iPhone 8 Plus battery issues? Leave your comments below.
Source: Reuters
