Apple iPhone XS Max allegedly explodes in Ohio man's pocket
The first public account of the battery catastrophically failing in an iPhone XS Max has surfaced, and may result in legal action after Apple refused to replace the device for free when the owner wanted to retain the destroyed device.
Front of exploded iPhone XS Max (credit: Josh Hillard and iDrop News)
A three-week-old iPhone XS Max reportedly caught fire and exploded while in the pocket of an Ohio resident on December 12. A man who identified as Josh Hillard, said that he was at lunch at 3:00 p.m. when he noticed a smell and felt a "large amount of heat" and then green and yellow smoke coming from his iPhone XS Max.
"A VP of our company put the fire out with a fire extinguisher because he heard me yelling," Hillard told iDrop News. "Once the phone was extinguished, I was left with a hole in my pants, fire extinguisher on my pants/shoes, and some pain/irritation in my buttocks region where the pocket of my pants was located."
Rear of exploded iPhone XS Max (credit: Josh Hillard and iDrop News)
Hillard says he later took the damaged phone to an Apple Store. While the Store apparently offered him a replacement phone, he refused it unless he could also keep the damaged one. He then contacted the Apple Care support line and after providing photographs of the damage, reports that an Apple safety department supervisor "essentially offered a new phone."
Hillard says that this is insufficient, and he also wants Apple to reimburse him for his damaged pants plus the cost of his cell plan while he was unable to use the phone. The man is also reportedly considering what legal options are available regarding the incident.
It isn't clear why the battery ruptured and spewed flammable electrolyte. A battery membrane is designed to swell instead of rupturing in the case of a cell failure, and most swellings and ruptures happen under a runaway thermal condition while the device is being charged. Based on the account, given that it was in the man's pocket, it seems unlikely that it was charging.
One likely scenario is that the device bent while in the man's back pocket given that the cited pain and irritation was in the "buttocks region." This bend, if profound enough, can pierce the battery membrane resulting in what the man described. Another possibility is a failure of the cell for other reasons, such as a manufacturing problem not caught by quality assurance.
In reviewing AppleInsider's collated service data, there are no incidents of iPhone XS Max catastrophic battery failures. Given that our sample is not the entire set of Apple's repairs, plus the rarity of a battery rupture, it is possible that there have been other failures in such a manner -- but this is the first public account.
Apple has not yet commented on the incident but the description of green and yellow smoke is consistent with a battery having been broken. In February 2018, two Hong Kong Apple Store employees were hospitalized after inhaling smoke from an iPhone battery during a repair.
Front of exploded iPhone XS Max (credit: Josh Hillard and iDrop News)
A three-week-old iPhone XS Max reportedly caught fire and exploded while in the pocket of an Ohio resident on December 12. A man who identified as Josh Hillard, said that he was at lunch at 3:00 p.m. when he noticed a smell and felt a "large amount of heat" and then green and yellow smoke coming from his iPhone XS Max.
"A VP of our company put the fire out with a fire extinguisher because he heard me yelling," Hillard told iDrop News. "Once the phone was extinguished, I was left with a hole in my pants, fire extinguisher on my pants/shoes, and some pain/irritation in my buttocks region where the pocket of my pants was located."
Rear of exploded iPhone XS Max (credit: Josh Hillard and iDrop News)
Hillard says he later took the damaged phone to an Apple Store. While the Store apparently offered him a replacement phone, he refused it unless he could also keep the damaged one. He then contacted the Apple Care support line and after providing photographs of the damage, reports that an Apple safety department supervisor "essentially offered a new phone."
Hillard says that this is insufficient, and he also wants Apple to reimburse him for his damaged pants plus the cost of his cell plan while he was unable to use the phone. The man is also reportedly considering what legal options are available regarding the incident.
It isn't clear why the battery ruptured and spewed flammable electrolyte. A battery membrane is designed to swell instead of rupturing in the case of a cell failure, and most swellings and ruptures happen under a runaway thermal condition while the device is being charged. Based on the account, given that it was in the man's pocket, it seems unlikely that it was charging.
One likely scenario is that the device bent while in the man's back pocket given that the cited pain and irritation was in the "buttocks region." This bend, if profound enough, can pierce the battery membrane resulting in what the man described. Another possibility is a failure of the cell for other reasons, such as a manufacturing problem not caught by quality assurance.
In reviewing AppleInsider's collated service data, there are no incidents of iPhone XS Max catastrophic battery failures. Given that our sample is not the entire set of Apple's repairs, plus the rarity of a battery rupture, it is possible that there have been other failures in such a manner -- but this is the first public account.
Apple has not yet commented on the incident but the description of green and yellow smoke is consistent with a battery having been broken. In February 2018, two Hong Kong Apple Store employees were hospitalized after inhaling smoke from an iPhone battery during a repair.
Comments
I'm not surprised that Apple wanted the phone back as part of the warranty process. How else are they going to analyze failures? I'm betting that if you read the warranty fine print — and we've all done that, right? </s> — that there's a clause to that effect.
I suppose Apple could put a big red & yellow warning sticker on the phone that says "NO SIT" that resembles the "NO STEP" warnings on aircraft wings and control surfaces. But would that really make a difference? Sorry, but Apple can't StupidProof(™) all of their products to the degree necessary to get through to some people, like this guy in Ohio. Give him a replacement phone, a voucher for new pants, and maybe a bicycle helmet and rubber gloves so he doesn't injure himself performing routine household and office tasks. This guy is obviously a danger to himself.
But he probably got a brusque, over-worked genius before getting the Apple Safety Engineer, was likely in a bad mood to begin with, and the whole encounter felt bad to him. I can see why he walked away. The "we'll replace your iphone" was presumed. "we aren't going to do anything else for you" was an insult from his standpoint.
What this highlights to me is that Apple Store reps aren't given enough latitude to extinguish situations where emotions are inflamed.
Apple offered to replace the device, and requesting the damaged device is standard practice. The fact that Hillard refused to turn in the old phone makes me suspect he is more interested in suing than anything else.
This guy’s insistence on keeping the “evidence” indicates he is more interested in a payday than just letting Apple make things better for all of us by forensically examining the device. What ever happened to the greater good—the sense of community?
So… actually being able to replace a broken device shouldn't been seen as a "you owe me"-type of a deal, but rather a new transaction that the customer is making with the company. You are giving them what failed to live up to your expectations in return for something. That might be part of a generous open return policy, or it might be in lieu of you suing them for getting your pants set on fire.
In the latter case the legal situation might not be that you actually clear them off everything, making it impossible for you to sue them; but handing them the evidence might practically speaking basically be the same as if you did.
I'm just trying to be very neutral about what's going on here.
Practically speaking though… there are basically just two options why he might want to keep the old phone; it's either because he doesn't want Apple to be able to figure out that it was his, not Apple's, fault that this happened, or because he wants to both get a free device upfront AND sue them. In either case his first step is to make the demand, and to try to put some PR-pressure on them to give him what he wants.
(A third option could of course be that there's data on the phone that he really really really doesn't want anyone to possibly be able to recover; but then he's just plain stupid for pushing Apple like this.)