iPhone 15 Pro Max somehow fails to survive having a 90lb dumbbell dropped on it
Second time's the charm: A personal trainer again accidentally dropped a gym weight on his iPhone 15 Pro Max, discovering that physics are remorseless and iPhones aren't invulnerable.
The moment Kyle Counts' smashed iPhone began to smoke and spark
There are people who destroy devices to make idiotic YouTube videos, and there's Apple that might destroy thousands of them in testing. But then there are also people like personal trainer Kyle Counts who wouldn't dream of smashing a costly iPhone -- but accidentally do precisely that. Many times.
As reported by Newsflare, Counts was working a triceps exercise in a gym in Scapoose, Oregon when his iPhone fell out of his pocket. He didn't notice it until the end of his exercise when he dropped the 90 pound dumbbell he was using, onto the floor and right onto the iPhone.
The gym's security footage shows the accident, plus Counts' face looking exactly like anyone's would after this. But then he picked up the iPhone and smoke began coming out of it -- and it began sparking.
"I was initially annoyed but the screen was still on and working until it lit up like a roman candle in my hand," said Counts.
"Obviously my first instinct was drop the phone but when I saw it wasn't just smoking but started sparking I grabbed it as fast as I could and ran outside through the emergency exit," he continued. "The phone kept sparking so I tried to kick it with my foot into a puddle to submerge it to hopefully put out the fire."
"It just boiled in the water for a bit before finally smouldering out," he said. "I didn't really have time to think about anything apart from getting that smoke out of the gym as fast as possible."
Dropping a weight on an iPhone turns out to be less of a rare event than it should be -- if you're Kyle Counts. "I have dropped a dumbbell on my phone twice and broke it in the car door twice," he added.
It's not clear whether his phones were destroyed each time, but of the four incidents, he says this is the worst. "They have never emitted any smoke or gas before," he said.
Perhaps his best option is to leave his iPhones in a locker. But he could also try ruggedized iPhone cases, just as a start.
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Comments
Again find it strange the AI staff seem to take others' destruction of their Apple devices, for which they personally, or through a sponsor, have paid for them, quite so personally. Yeah, there's the kids that buy PS5s and smash them in front of release day lines at BestBuy just for clicks... But JerryRigEverything does his series of bend test/teardown videos every week of differing types/brands of technology. Not only that, but often times he'll get high quality photos of the insides for dBrand to make skins with, so it's typically of no cost to him and ultimately serves that purpose as well as serving as a 3rd party verification of Apple's own durability claims. If anything, Zack's M4 iPad Pro video mainly served to verify that Apple did indeed reinforce the structural design of their iPad Pro line to prevent accidental/unintentional bending during ownership (and of course not built to withstand intentional destruction haha). I think seeing exactly how much torture needs to be inflicted to cause such a catastrophic failure makes me feel better about the long term durability of my latest purchase. This is like the 4th article here in recent times I've read with this slant.. Maybe same writer/editor perhaps?
As for the gym guy... If there was ever a poster child for the case of purchasing AppleCare+ he would it haha. Good on him at least for recognizing the actual danger of lithium ion battery fire and taking the appropriate action at least. That's one expensive roman candle haha.
Gasoline tankers, refineries, chemical plants, trains, planes and electrical transformers explode multiple times a year.
Television sets, refrigerators, dryers, ovens and other home appliances burn down homes many times a year.
Anything with a high capacity battery (even a 12 volt car battery with a gasoline leak or certain other fluid leaks) can go up in flames.
Short circuits, especially in homes with over-sized fuses or other safety features defeated, can burn down the house.
Safer to store flammables in an explosion resistant cabinet, such as used by many companies to protect workers and plant equipment.
Mobile electronic equipment will be safer when/if solid state batteries eventually become available.
Fire resistant chemicals used for circuit boards and fire-fighter clothing have been linked with health concerns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZvCV_Eom8s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmoQdqGZhCU
https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/lawsuits-filed-against-apple-after-iphone-and-smartwatch-overheat-and-catch-fire/news-story/9a5762148e913e0f13ec005271ba8be1
At the same time, someone in that situation would feel like they should get the device out of the way of other people quickly and to try and avoid a fire starting.
There should really be some official public safety measures to handle this in the most appropriate way, the same way there is for oil fires. On planes they have fireproof bags to put devices in if they catch fire but the official guidelines say to first cool the device with water or other liquid to prevent further thermal runaway:
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_120-80B.pdf
Although water reacts strongly with lithium, there's a small amount in the batteries and the cooling effect can stop more cells going into thermal runaway. Once the thermal runaway has stopped, the device can be put in a fireproof bag, which can contain some of the smoke. A safe procedure would be something like:
- stay clear of the device, out of the way of smoke inhalation and explosion
- cool it down with liquid
- put it in a container e.g metal pot and keep it covered
Hopefully solid state batteries aren't far off and these kind of measures won't be needed.