Man causes explosion in Chinese electronics store by biting replacement iPhone battery

Posted:
in iPhone
A man in an electronics store in China caused a replacement battery for his iPhone to explode by biting the component, according to a report, with footage from the incident quickly becoming a viral hit in the country within days of being uploaded to a video sharing service.




The ten-second video shows the inside of the electronics store, with the unnamed man and his companion standing over a workbench and other customers and employees nearby. According to Taiwan News, the customer was in the store to acquire a replacement battery for an iPhone.

The customer is seen bringing the component to his face for a closer look, before putting it in his mouth to bite down on it. Moments after he removes it from his mouth, the battery ruptures, causing a small explosion with a brief flash of light and some smoke, with the damaged hardware flung out of the customer's grip behind the counter.

Despite the proximity to the man's face and other people, local reports note no-one was injured from the blast, though those in attendance were startled by the event.

It is believed that the man decided to bite on the battery in an attempt to test its authenticity or durability, possibly following the same logic as people testing if an item is made from real gold. Chinese electronic stores are apparently known for their trade of fake goods, so the customer's need to check if the component is a genuine part is warranted, albeit not in this way.




It is unknown if the incident is related to efforts by Apple to provide discounted iPhone battery exchanges, in the wake of the iPhone throttling revelation. Though Apple does operate the same discounted program in mainland China, it is unknown if the store in question is an Apple Authorized Service Partner or another third-party repair center, with the latter typically using components outside of the official supply chain.

The unexpected incident has become a hit on social media in China in a short period of time. After taking place on January 19 and uploaded to video sharing site Miaopai.com on January 20, it has since been viewed over 4 million times.

While comparisons could be made to the Samsung Note 7 battery fiasco, it is worth noting that this is a separate issue entirely. Samsung's manufacturing process for batteries introduced two different flaws that could cause overheating and rupturing, whereas this involves a battery not residing within an iPhone, and with a more direct method of causing a rupture.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    I'm sure Apple will be sued for this...

    How dumb can you be! And yet there are people here who want others to replace their own components inside these devices? This is exactly why this shouldn't ever happen. 
    edited January 2018 curtis hannahnetmagerotateleftbyteracerhomie3fotoformatjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 26
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Was he lucky or what?  The headline (or should I say Headlessline) could have read far worse if he'd been going for a second bite!
    jbdragonbloggerblogcurtis hannahnetmagejony0
  • Reply 3 of 26
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    macxpress said:
    I'm sure Apple will be sued for this...

    How dumb can you be! And yet there are people here who want others to replace their own components inside these devices? This is exactly why this shouldn't ever happen. 
    Excellent point.  I wonder if there are accounts of replacement accidents on phones that do allow this?  I have not read of any.
  • Reply 4 of 26
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Wouldn’t it be much safer to just get it replaced by an Apple-authorised dealer rather than risk permanent eye injuries and likely disfigurement?


    williamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 26
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    Hungry Chinese can do anything.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 26
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    macxpress said:
    I'm sure Apple will be sued for this...

    How dumb can you be! And yet there are people here who want others to replace their own components inside these devices? This is exactly why this shouldn't ever happen. 
    Someone will be along in just a few minutes to explain why this is Apple’s fault. 


    macxpresswilliamlondonJWSCwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 26
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Great.  Now Apple will have to put a "Do Not Bite" sticker on my phone.  
    williamlondonjbdragonJWSCwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 26
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Rayz2016 said:
    Wouldn’t it be much safer to just get it replaced by an Apple-authorised dealer rather than risk permanent eye injuries and likely disfigurement?


    The article says it's not known if the store where this took place is an Apple Authorized dealer/repair center They could be. 
    edited January 2018 dysamoria
  • Reply 9 of 26
    Rayz2016 said:
    macxpress said:
    I'm sure Apple will be sued for this...

    How dumb can you be! And yet there are people here who want others to replace their own components inside these devices? This is exactly why this shouldn't ever happen. 
    Someone will be along in just a few minutes to explain why this is Apple’s fault. 


    It was labeled 'Apple'. It should not have been made to look like a fruit bar in a black wrapper. Apple should have anticipated this. /s
    williamlondonstompyjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 26
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Okay, not an Apple Store but an ‘electronics store’ that may or may not be an authorized repair center, battery of unknown origin or authenticity, dumb customer. Got it.
    edited January 2018 bloggerblogwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 26
    What a moron. Just when you think the people eating Tide Pods trend couldn’t get any worse.
    curtis hannahbaconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 26
    Probably part of a plot by Samsung to pay mentally unstable people to create an artificial Batterygate for Apple. Especially now we know it can be done without lethal consequences
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 26
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    This can be a 100% perfect new battery. But biting it, you are in fact causing the plates inside to short out doing that. That is not remotely a normal thing. Lithium battery's are nasty things. Everything has to be perfect in them. They have to be charged and drained correctly. They need to be fully sealed from the outside air. Yo sure as hell can't go biting battery's. They don't have a hard case as they are going into something that has a hard case, like a phone.It's the phone protecting the battery. Seems pretty silly to have to put a huge warning label on battery's that say No biting!!! This is the type of thing that cause dumb warning to get onto things.
    curtis hannahwilliamlondonJWSCwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 26
    I guess homey forgot to take his lithium pills. 
    curtis hannahSpamSandwichbaconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 26
    He should have bit into a Tide Pod, right? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!?!?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 26
    appleric said:
    He should have bit into a Tide Pod, right? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!?!?
    Attorneys
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 26
    What a moron. Just when you think the people eating Tide Pods trend couldn’t get any worse.
    That's exactly there I was going to go with this.  At least Apple didn't package the battery in candy colors.
    curtis hannahSpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 26
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    randominternetperson said;
    At least Apple didn't package the battery in candy colors.
    You're assuming Apple supplied this battery. In case the OP was tl;dr for you:

    lkrupp said:
    Okay, not an Apple Store but an ‘electronics store’ that may or may not be an authorized repair center, battery of unknown origin or authenticity, dumb customer. Got it.
    I would truly like to know exactly why the guy bit the battery. Did he really think this would give him some kind of information regarding the battery? Lose a bet? Thought it was a bar of dark chocolate?

    The 'test' for authentic gold coins was the first thing I thought of. Although pretty unreliable for amount of gold content, it did rule out some degree of fake coins. 

    Good point also about this being a possible consequence with '100% perfect new battery' being 'used' well outside it's performance envelope.


    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 26
    Did he mention whether or not it tastes like chicken?
    JWSCwatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 26
    sdw2001 said:
    Great.  Now Apple will have to put a "Do Not Bite" sticker on my phone.  
    Maybe that’s why Samsung put a no dogs symbol on their batteries. Courtesy of Jerryrigeverything’s Galaxy S8 tear down 
    watto_cobra
Sign In or Register to comment.