Apple says 'looking into' video of apparent iPhone 7 Plus meltdown
Apple is investigating the circumstances behind a widely circulated video showing a partially melted, smoking iPhone 7 Plus, the result of what appears to be a major device malfunction, reports said late Thursday.
On Wednesday, Brianna Olivas posted to Twitter a video of smoke billowing from a large crack in her rose gold iPhone 7 Plus. Seen below, the footage reveals a large section of the iPhone's display pulling away from its aluminum chassis anchoring, then delaminating from its coverglass only seconds later.
As of this writing, Olivas' video accumulated well over 1 million views and has been retweeted more than 22,000 times.
In a statement to Mashable, Olivas said she experienced problems powering up her device, which was purchased from a Sprint store in January, just one day prior to the video. She took the phone in to an Apple store for testing, but employees -- presumably Geniuses -- found the device to be working normally.
The next morning, Olivas had the iPhone charging next to her head. Her boyfriend, rather fortuitously, moved it to a nearby dresser as he made his way to the restroom, moments later seeing the device "steaming" and making a "squealing" noise. He quickly grabbed the iPhone and put it on Olivas' bathroom sink, where the device "blew up."
While the exact cause of the meltdown is unknown, the wispy white smoke is indicative of a catastrophic battery pack failure in which vaporized electrolyte material is emitted. The event, sometimes caused by a thermal runaway, is often characterized by the cascading disintegration of neighboring cells.
Beyond what appears to be a bulging effect where the iPhone 7 Plus battery pack lives, the presence of chemical stains seen on the damaged device's exterior further support the theory of a battery failure.
In any case, Olivas has since handed the phone over to Apple. The company has yet to issue an explanation of the incident, saying only, "We are in touch with the customer and looking into it."
Though smartphone users have for years been aware of rare battery malfunctions, consumers are perhaps more sensitive to the dangers of lithium-ion cell failures after Samsung's recent Galaxy Note 7 fiasco brought the issue to the fore. Shortly after the Korean tech giant launched its Note 7 phablet last year, users began to complain of exploding or combusting handsets. As reports piled in, Samsung was forced to halt shipments in late August, later deciding to activate a voluntary global recall of some 2.5 million devices.
Replacement Note 7 units suffered from the same problems, prompting Samsung to stop all sales of the device on Oct. 10 and discontinue the product line a day later. A subsequent investigation into the matter revealed manufacturing and design flaws led to the conflagrations.
On Wednesday, Brianna Olivas posted to Twitter a video of smoke billowing from a large crack in her rose gold iPhone 7 Plus. Seen below, the footage reveals a large section of the iPhone's display pulling away from its aluminum chassis anchoring, then delaminating from its coverglass only seconds later.
As of this writing, Olivas' video accumulated well over 1 million views and has been retweeted more than 22,000 times.
In a statement to Mashable, Olivas said she experienced problems powering up her device, which was purchased from a Sprint store in January, just one day prior to the video. She took the phone in to an Apple store for testing, but employees -- presumably Geniuses -- found the device to be working normally.
The next morning, Olivas had the iPhone charging next to her head. Her boyfriend, rather fortuitously, moved it to a nearby dresser as he made his way to the restroom, moments later seeing the device "steaming" and making a "squealing" noise. He quickly grabbed the iPhone and put it on Olivas' bathroom sink, where the device "blew up."
So my IPhone 7 plus blew up this morning was not even using it, literally no explanation for this pic.twitter.com/sQ8CJt4Y69
-- Bree (@briannaolivas_)
While the exact cause of the meltdown is unknown, the wispy white smoke is indicative of a catastrophic battery pack failure in which vaporized electrolyte material is emitted. The event, sometimes caused by a thermal runaway, is often characterized by the cascading disintegration of neighboring cells.
Beyond what appears to be a bulging effect where the iPhone 7 Plus battery pack lives, the presence of chemical stains seen on the damaged device's exterior further support the theory of a battery failure.
In any case, Olivas has since handed the phone over to Apple. The company has yet to issue an explanation of the incident, saying only, "We are in touch with the customer and looking into it."
Though smartphone users have for years been aware of rare battery malfunctions, consumers are perhaps more sensitive to the dangers of lithium-ion cell failures after Samsung's recent Galaxy Note 7 fiasco brought the issue to the fore. Shortly after the Korean tech giant launched its Note 7 phablet last year, users began to complain of exploding or combusting handsets. As reports piled in, Samsung was forced to halt shipments in late August, later deciding to activate a voluntary global recall of some 2.5 million devices.
Replacement Note 7 units suffered from the same problems, prompting Samsung to stop all sales of the device on Oct. 10 and discontinue the product line a day later. A subsequent investigation into the matter revealed manufacturing and design flaws led to the conflagrations.
Comments
No. I already debunked this last time. The circuitry (usually a power management IC) to control battery charging is inside the iPhone. The charger is just a "dumb" power supply that sends voltage to the charging circuit.
These circuits are fairly robust and can handle overvoltages several times their normal operating voltage (5V for iPhones from USB). They also have protection to shut down in case of excess voltage, short circuits or reverse polarity. In short, your battery isn't going to overcharge because the charger is putting out too much power since your battery has no direct connection to the charger.
In the case of extreme voltage (say 100V) the circuitry, circuit board traces and other components are going to go up in smoke (essentially a very expensive fuse) long before any of that voltage gets to your battery. So you'd have a small smoke show, but your battery would be ok.
Still, they've done the right thing by sending the phone back to Apple so they can take a look at it.
Take any iPhone and run 120v (or even 30v) thru the charging port and you can likely overwhelm the protection circuitry built into the phone over time (it's designed for transients, not 8 hours of charging 20 days a month!)
Eventually the phone can't protect itself, the LiIon battery gets over charged and puffs up like this. (The expansion is the protective plastic shell the battery is in preventing a very explosive lithium fire.)
I've done a lot of damage to lithium batteries as part of Robot combat events (think BattleBots but smaller). They are very powerful, and have to be treated right.
This is why you NEVER use anything but an Apple charger.
It's not a meme. It's like playing with matches near an opened gasoline tank and then calling it "The old "you're refueling it wrong" meme"
Given the simple function of the device, I'd implement a lifetime warranty and ask users to hand in the failed charger to get a new one. No doubt it would lead to an instant improvement in the basic design.
The real point though, is how do you know which is which or neither of the two?
- http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html
- http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html
- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38167551
macarena said: I'm a little biased, being a little bit obsessive compulsive (and having worked for 'cable' manufacturers), but people could treat their cables better. I loaned a lighting cable to a friend to charge his phone, in a rented vehicle. At one point, he grabbed his phone, by reaching for and pulling the cable first, no where near the (small) strain relife on the cable. I nicely asked him not to do that and explain why. I have lightning cables, in near perfect conditions (aside from some discoloration due to long use), from when I got my iPhone 5. That being said, a majority of people don't know/care to know how to handle their cables.