Smartphones have exploded previously while charging, over usage or due to the handset overheating due to hardware failures. Apple is added to the list of mobile phone providers which has had these issues.
A Sydney bicycle rider suffered third degree burns when his iPhone exploded in his pocket. Gareth Clear, 36, who is a keen cyclist was cycling on Sunday afternoon in Manly Dam and had an accident on his bike. His Apple iPhone was in his back pocket when he fell and it ignited, Gareth felt extreme heat and saw smoke coming from his behind.
iPhone 6 Explodes in Cyclists Pocket With Third-Degree Burns
“I just saw smoke coming out of my back pocket and I was completely bewildered about what it was and then all of a sudden I felt this surging pain,” he said.
Clear said he heard a “snap” and felt a “searing heat” on the right side of his butt as the iPhone burnt through his riding shorts in a matter of seconds.
He saw that his biking shorts and clothing underneath were melting, causing his iPhone to stick to his leg. “It had to have been more than 100 degrees,” Clear said.
He tried to remove it but burnt his fingers, before struggling to take off his “boiling” shorts. He was finally able to get the iPhone off when he punched it.
“I just remember looking at my leg and I had this black discharge all down my leg and this smell of phosphorus,” he said.
“I just saw the phone on the floor and it was kind of consorting and all this kind of battery goo was just coming out the bottom of the phone near the power socket and it was kind of moving.”
The incident occurred when Clear’s foot slipped on the bike pedal as he was about to start moving, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his bottom.
Clear borrowed a mobile phone and went to Manly Hospital before being immediately transferred to the burns unit at the Royal North Shore Hospital.
His upper right thigh was so severely burnt that he was forced to undergo skin graft surgery at the burns unit of the Royal North Shore Hospital.
Gareth set up a specialist machine to fight infection and suggested that it would take several weeks to heal.
“It’s a bit random, the thing to be very specific about, the phone did hit the ground, it didn’t just spontaneously combust. It was a one in one million chance I hit a part of the phone which pierced the lithium battery and it exploded,” he said.
“I’m 36, I’ve had a mobile phone for 18 years of my life and for that thing to explode or short-circuit and cause it to temporarily ignite. I could see the metal bending and all the lithium leaking out of the bottom end.”
Gareth posted a snap of his horrific injuries on Twitter, and received a robotic response from Apple before an employee tried to call him.
“I want Apple to investigate, find out what was the cause and we need to educate people about this.”
Gareth stated that henceforth he won’t be taking his iPhone while biking. He called it a “mini bomb” and a “tragedy waiting to happen.”
Gareth a huge Apple enthusiast did not blame Apple for his injury, and wanted to raise awareness about the possible dangers of iPhones.
“Every iPhone is the same if it happens to one, it will happen to another one. I was just lucky I was wearing pretty thick clothing and it was on my lower body” he said.
This underlines the seriousness of the sort of damage that smartphones can cause so please be sensible and stay safe.
Source: SMH