Apple blames Beats headphones explosion on third-party batteries

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 85
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Beats headphones take AAA batteries? Uh, what? I'm assuming this is a model released way before they were acquired by Apple?
    dysamoria
  • Reply 42 of 85
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    clemynx said:
    Soli said:
    1) To me, the title and article make it sound like Apple is blaming the customer on having used 3rd-party batteries at all, but that's silly since Apple doesn't make AAA.

    2) Has anyone else jumped from disposable batteries to only using Eneloop (or similar rechargeable batteries) for all their needs. I only need AA, AAA, and a few 9-Volts these days. They last considerably longer than disposable batteries and my math says it'll reduce both my cost and waste.
    I only use rechargeable batteries, everybody should!
    Why, because it's better for you? Many use cases where rechargeables are not practical or desirable. Smart people usually avoid absolute statements.
    dysamoria
  • Reply 43 of 85
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    mike1 said:
    clemynx said:
    Soli said:
    1) To me, the title and article make it sound like Apple is blaming the customer on having used 3rd-party batteries at all, but that's silly since Apple doesn't make AAA.

    2) Has anyone else jumped from disposable batteries to only using Eneloop (or similar rechargeable batteries) for all their needs. I only need AA, AAA, and a few 9-Volts these days. They last considerably longer than disposable batteries and my math says it'll reduce both my cost and waste.
    I only use rechargeable batteries, everybody should!
    Why, because it's better for you? Many use cases where rechargeables are not practical or desirable. Smart people usually avoid absolute statements.
    I agree that absolute statements can paint one into a corner, but I am having a hard time seeing how rechargeable batteries have a downside for personal items. If it's a gift, it would be great to include rechargeable batteries—hell, make the gift rechargeable batteries and charger—but it's the one area where I can understand why one wouldn't have to both save money and the environment. What's the counter to, say, having a digital scale that takes 4 AAA batteries that I can now charge once every 6 months instead of replacing every 45 days?
  • Reply 44 of 85
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    How is that picture a woman?!
    How is there an issue here and why does it matter to you? 
    StrangeDaysmacxpress
  • Reply 45 of 85
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Ironhead said:
    So sue the battery company, which is strangely not called out in the article.
    SpamSandwichalmondroca
  • Reply 46 of 85
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Soli said:

    2) Has anyone else jumped from disposable batteries to only using Eneloop (or similar rechargeable batteries) for all their needs. I only need AA, AAA, and a few 9-Volts these days. They last considerably longer than disposable batteries and my math says it'll reduce both my cost and waste.
    Your math is correct.
    I've transitioned from disposable to NiMH and Lithium Ion for all my AA, AAA and 9volt needs (18650 too).
    It's great, buy them once and that's it for the next 5-10 years.  One does have to keep a few chargers around, but that beats throwing away 50-100 batteries a year.
    If the rechargeable batteries are made properly. There are cases where manufacturers have been found to make inferior batteries to sell more batteries more often, at greater profit, even when they're rechargeable.
  • Reply 47 of 85
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    How is that picture a woman?!
    Remember that it's 2017 and Bruce Jenner is now a woman.
    So what? What does any of this have to do with the photo of the woman in this article?
    StrangeDaysmacxpressiqatedo
  • Reply 48 of 85
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member

    ireland said:
    How is that picture a woman?!
    Because it's a woman with a black face from the AAA battery explosion.
    At first glance it looked like a beard!
    At first glance, because I read the headline and looked at the photo with some sense of paying attention, it looked like a woman with blackened skin from batteries burning up against her head. Beards don't look like that. At least, not real beards made of hair. Maybe some grease paint for stage beards looks like this but come on...
    ronnStrangeDaysiqatedo
  • Reply 49 of 85
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    wigby said:
    NY1822 said:
    do you want money for the facial burns and hair loss? "No, just a new pair of headphones and a replacement t-shirt"
    Exactly. The fact that these lawyers are only looking for replacement headphones and clothes actually makes them more suspicious than typical lawyers.
    Or more reasonable. If she didn't get seriously burned, it's hard to demand compensation for something that cannot be demonstrated. The blackened skin in the photo is possibly mostly smoke debris from the batteries.
    iqatedo
  • Reply 50 of 85
    brakkenbrakken Posts: 687member
    NY1822 said:
    do you want money for the facial burns and hair loss? "No, just a new pair of headphones and a replacement t-shirt"
    Fingas' brain was on holiday. Or maybe he is a writebot after all!
  • Reply 51 of 85
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    Soli said:
    mike1 said:
    clemynx said:
    Soli said:
    1) To me, the title and article make it sound like Apple is blaming the customer on having used 3rd-party batteries at all, but that's silly since Apple doesn't make AAA.

    2) Has anyone else jumped from disposable batteries to only using Eneloop (or similar rechargeable batteries) for all their needs. I only need AA, AAA, and a few 9-Volts these days. They last considerably longer than disposable batteries and my math says it'll reduce both my cost and waste.
    I only use rechargeable batteries, everybody should!
    Why, because it's better for you? Many use cases where rechargeables are not practical or desirable. Smart people usually avoid absolute statements.
    I agree that absolute statements can paint one into a corner, but I am having a hard time seeing how rechargeable batteries have a downside for personal items. If it's a gift, it would be great to include rechargeable batteries—hell, make the gift rechargeable batteries and charger—but it's the one area where I can understand why one wouldn't have to both save money and the environment. What's the counter to, say, having a digital scale that takes 4 AAA batteries that I can now charge once every 6 months instead of replacing every 45 days?
    There are some items for which rechargeable batteries aren't worth it. Our TV remote had the same set of Alkalines for 4 years. The return on investment there is too long to make rechargeables worth it. The other thing I worry about is the mining and environmental cost of Lithium vs alkaline. 

    I'm in the somewhat unique situation of being able to get AA batteries from work that are only slightly used but will be otherwise discarded. It's hard to make an argument against free batteries!

    As for the case, it sounds like the woman purchased defective batteries, so there would have been a problem no matter what the brand of headphone she used
    edited May 2017
  • Reply 52 of 85
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Soli said:
    mike1 said:
    clemynx said:
    Soli said:
    1) To me, the title and article make it sound like Apple is blaming the customer on having used 3rd-party batteries at all, but that's silly since Apple doesn't make AAA.

    2) Has anyone else jumped from disposable batteries to only using Eneloop (or similar rechargeable batteries) for all their needs. I only need AA, AAA, and a few 9-Volts these days. They last considerably longer than disposable batteries and my math says it'll reduce both my cost and waste.
    I only use rechargeable batteries, everybody should!
    Why, because it's better for you? Many use cases where rechargeables are not practical or desirable. Smart people usually avoid absolute statements.
    I agree that absolute statements can paint one into a corner, but I am having a hard time seeing how rechargeable batteries have a downside for personal items. If it's a gift, it would be great to include rechargeable batteries—hell, make the gift rechargeable batteries and charger—but it's the one area where I can understand why one wouldn't have to both save money and the environment. What's the counter to, say, having a digital scale that takes 4 AAA batteries that I can now charge once every 6 months instead of replacing every 45 days?
    Cost is an important factor for people. Rechargeable batteries that are well made are more costly and the recharger is also costly, when compared to infrequent disposable battery usage.

    Rechargeables require the consumer to do investigative work before purchase (to avoid garbage rechargeable batteries and chargers that offer no benefit over disposables).

    Rechargeable batteries also require careful usage to maintain their rechargeable and usable lifespan (unless that has changed: don't let them sit around uncharged or unused, for example).

    It's not a great purchase for occasional usage in one or two gadgets. If you have a lot of battery-powered items, the value improves.

    When you're poor, there are a lot of things that don't rank as a priority. Unfortunately, disposables make more sense to poor people who are just looking for a battery to power a TV remote or a kid's toy for occasional usage.
    iqatedo
  • Reply 53 of 85
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Marvin said:
    Ironhead said:
    So sue the battery company, which is strangely not called out in the article.
    LOL
    pscooter63
  • Reply 54 of 85
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    sgordon said:
    oas far as i know almost all products that take regular batteries are designed to work with either non rechargeable or rechargeable batteries knowing that there is a difference in voltage (1.5v vs 1.2v) and certainly if you put the wrong ones in worst case is just doesn't work... so apple is being ridiculous if it is saying that she should not have used 3rd party batteries... you don't want people to use  non apple batteries then like my camera use a different shape or like why iPhone don't allow battery change.  if you design your headphones to support standard shape then assume people will use standard batteries of that specification.  now, that said, the question is whether the battery blew up due to a headset problem or a battery problem, either is possible, and apple and the battery manufacturer should work together to figure out which... 
    that's not what Apple is saying. Apple is saying the third party batteries are to blame. Some Apple and the customer didn't make the batteries, it's third party. Apple isn't saying all third party batteries are the problem. 
    Soliyoyo2222
  • Reply 55 of 85
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,616member
    cheap battery shorts and goes pop, nothing to see here.
  • Reply 56 of 85
    RTCRTC Posts: 14member
    At least Apple should give this poor woman a new pair of their latest and best Beats when the whole lawyer thing is over...good for publicity.

    Btw: If the Beats had a built-in rechargeable battery, Apple would be responsible for the explosion, no matter who the manufacturer of the built-in rechargeable battery was. Apple sells the product, they are responsible for the product and all it's components. Then, after compensating the victim, they could legally go after the manufacturer of the battery. In this case however, it wasn't Apple's fault!
    edited May 2017
  • Reply 57 of 85
    copelandcopeland Posts: 298member
    macxpress said:
    Yeah why are they asking Apple to compensate them if its the batteries? It doesn't matter if it says anything on the outside of the box. The batteries exploded, plain and simple. It doesn't matter what they were in. If they can show that the headphones caused the batteries to explode thats a different story, but if its just simply the batteries themselves that had fault you need to look to the battery manufacturer, not Apple. But like @SpamSandwich said, lawyers always go to the company with the most money. 
    Sorry but when my headphones would explode the first company I would turn to is the maker of the headphones.
    If they do a thorough investigation and can plausible explain that their electronics was working within the allowed parameters and that they suspect it was the batteries, then I would turn to the manufacturer of the batteries.
    But all we can read in the AI report is that Apple is blaming the batteries, nothing about what Apple did during the investigation. Could just be shortened reporting.
  • Reply 58 of 85
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    copeland said:
    macxpress said:
    Yeah why are they asking Apple to compensate them if its the batteries? It doesn't matter if it says anything on the outside of the box. The batteries exploded, plain and simple. It doesn't matter what they were in. If they can show that the headphones caused the batteries to explode thats a different story, but if its just simply the batteries themselves that had fault you need to look to the battery manufacturer, not Apple. But like @SpamSandwich said, lawyers always go to the company with the most money. 
    Sorry but when my headphones would explode the first company I would turn to is the maker of the headphones.
    If they do a thorough investigation and can plausible explain that their electronics was working within the allowed parameters and that they suspect it was the batteries, then I would turn to the manufacturer of the batteries.
    But all we can read in the AI report is that Apple is blaming the batteries, nothing about what Apple did during the investigation. Could just be shortened reporting.
    There is absolutely nothing in a pair of headphones that could explode *except* the batteries -- and since these were removable AAAs and weren't the original batteries shipped w/ the headphones, theres no reason the first company to turn to should be Apple. it's nonsense.
    pscooter63radarthekat
  • Reply 59 of 85
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    RTC said:
    At least Apple should give this poor woman a new pair of their latest and best Beats when the whole lawyer thing is over...good for publicity.

    Btw: If the Beats had a built-in rechargeable battery, Apple would be responsible for the explosion, no matter who the manufacturer of the built-in rechargeable battery was. Apple sells the product, they are responsible for the product and all it's components. Then, after compensating the victim, they could legally go after the manufacturer of the battery. In this case however, it wasn't Apple's fault!
    Apple should do nothing.
    evilutiondewme
  • Reply 60 of 85
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    RTC said:
    At least Apple should give this poor woman a new pair of their latest and best Beats when the whole lawyer thing is over...good for publicity.


    No, because if they did that then the lawyer thing wouldn't be over, would it?
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