An Australian iPhone owner whose day job is working as a scientist at the University of Melbourne is suing Apple after his iPhone X exploded in his pocket.
Robert De Rose says that he was sitting in his office in 2019, with the iPhone in his pocket, when suddenly he felt an intense pain in his thigh. He was left with second-degree leg burns after the incident.
“I heard a faint pop sound, followed by a fizz and then I felt intense pain on my right leg, so I immediately jumped up and I realised it was my phone,’ said De Rose. “So I reached into my pocket, grabbed it and threw it on the floor where it continued to fizz like a skyrocket. I had ash everywhere, and my skin had peeled back.”
De Rose is suing Apple along with anther man, who was burned after his Apple Watch reportedly overheated. According to De Rose, he is suing after Apple failed to respond to his original complaint.
Apple has said that it is looking into both incidents. It also says that it takes customer safety very seriously.
The case of the exploding iPhones
While they are statistically rare, there have been a few stories over the years about iPhones exploding. In 2018, for instance, an iPhone 6 was apparently recorded on a security camera exploding while in the shop for repair. In some cases, these incidents have been the result of dodgy third-party chargers being used. (Although it doesn’t sound like that was the cause here.) Ultimately, lithium-ion batteries can be unstable when damaged.
The iPhone X clearly didn’t have a mass fault like Samsung’s disastrous Note 7, for example. But isolated incidents such as this one can still occur. We’ll update you on what happens when — and if — this hits court.
Source: Seven News
