English teenager suffers facial burns after iPhone charger catches fire
A 17-year-old received burns to her cheek after her iPhone charger caught her blanket on fire.
On March 18, Amie Hall, who resides in Birmingham, England, plugged in her iPhone to charge before heading to bed. Just before falling asleep, she noticed "flashing orange" flames on her blanket.
The flames had caught her blanket on fire and left her with a minor burn to her cheek. Hall was able to run downstairs and seek the help of her mother, who could extinguish the fire without the aid of firefighters.
"There was no need for the fire service to attend as my mom had managed to put the fire out herself," Hall told Birmingham Mail. "I would just like to spread the word to please make sure people take note - it could have been a lot worse."
Hall posted pictures of her burns to Facebook to warn others not to leave their phone to charge overnight.
It's not currently known what caused the fire. Birmingham Mail says that the charger consisted of an Apple charging cable and another brand's charging plug, but Hall states otherwise.
"This isn't even a cheap charger, it's an Apple charger," she wrote on Facebook. "Please don't go to bed and leave your phone charging overnight."
Apple is currently investigating the cause of the fire. The company suggests that all iPhone users review safe charging standards. Users are told not to charge the iPhone in areas where moisture could be present or in poorly ventilated spaces, which could cause the charger to overheat or throw sparks.
Apple also suggests that users regularly inspect their charging equipment to ensure that it is not damaged and point out that users can take questionable equipment to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for evaluation.
In 2019, an Australian scientist suffered second-degree burns when his year-old iPhone X exploded in his pocket while at work. He is currently seeking compensation for his injuries.
On March 18, Amie Hall, who resides in Birmingham, England, plugged in her iPhone to charge before heading to bed. Just before falling asleep, she noticed "flashing orange" flames on her blanket.
The flames had caught her blanket on fire and left her with a minor burn to her cheek. Hall was able to run downstairs and seek the help of her mother, who could extinguish the fire without the aid of firefighters.
"There was no need for the fire service to attend as my mom had managed to put the fire out herself," Hall told Birmingham Mail. "I would just like to spread the word to please make sure people take note - it could have been a lot worse."
Hall posted pictures of her burns to Facebook to warn others not to leave their phone to charge overnight.
It's not currently known what caused the fire. Birmingham Mail says that the charger consisted of an Apple charging cable and another brand's charging plug, but Hall states otherwise.
"This isn't even a cheap charger, it's an Apple charger," she wrote on Facebook. "Please don't go to bed and leave your phone charging overnight."
Apple is currently investigating the cause of the fire. The company suggests that all iPhone users review safe charging standards. Users are told not to charge the iPhone in areas where moisture could be present or in poorly ventilated spaces, which could cause the charger to overheat or throw sparks.
Apple also suggests that users regularly inspect their charging equipment to ensure that it is not damaged and point out that users can take questionable equipment to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for evaluation.
In 2019, an Australian scientist suffered second-degree burns when his year-old iPhone X exploded in his pocket while at work. He is currently seeking compensation for his injuries.
Comments
The mother claims it was an Apple charger and an Apple cable. They may well be but what if it turns out both were counterfeits? There are millions upon millions of counterfeit Apple gear too. But as we will likely never hear about this again.
Finally, when something like this happens in the U.S. it's like winning the lottery. Personal injury lawyers would be pounding on her door with business cards in hand.
But there are a lot of counterfeit Apple-branded chargers being casually sold in otherwise reputable looking stores. During my last trip to London I was in search of a charger and it opened my eyes to how prevalent they are - so many mobilephone stores had fake “apple” chargers (each between £5-10.)
I only found a real one in a branch of one of the leading mobile providers.
The law of unintended consequences - not putting a charger in every product is likely to increase the number of cheap and maybe poor quality products. Although other companies substandard products are not really Apples problem.
I didn't know about this service. I wonder what they do.
His mother probably thinks her Sammy Galaxy is an iPhone. It most likely is a knockoff iPhone cable.
And yes there’s about 10 billion of these in the world but still there has to be better tech. Magsafe charging?
It states the CHARGER caught fire - not the cable & not the iPhone. It states the charger fire caught the bed on fire.
How do you plug in a charger on a bed, unless using an extension cord? And if an extension cord is involved - that's more likely the culprit.
Anybody else thinking a vape pen might be involved?
I had a genuine apple cable just “quit working” one day and upon inspection my cat had chewed through around the mid point and completely exposed bare wires.
Just one possibility among many. Like others said it could also be a low quality knock off cable/charger.
I believe so, take a look at If your iPhone or iPod touch won't charge and scroll to the bottom, there will be a section that says your accessory isn't supported or certified and further down, it says non-apple certified.
Thirdly, Apple needs to sort out their cable quality and this presents an opportunity for something bigger;
I’m sick of hearing how their wholesale move to USB-C is ‘dongle hell’. This is because people’s mindset needs to change, they ‘dongle-out’ the new technology with cables/dongles/hubs rather than dongling-out the old. When someone buys a new Mac, they should also buy a pack of Apples new, not-crap USB-C to USB-C cables and a few adaptors i.e. HDMI male to USB-C female, USB-A female to USB-C female & DisplayPort male to USB-C female.
Over time these dongles become irrelevant but the approach positions USB-C as the dominant connector type, a kind of “Out with the old, in with the new” statement.