Apple Watch battery blowout sends man to emergency room
Over the course of an evening and night, a man's Apple Watch battery expanded, overheated -- and eventually "exploded."
Apple Watch Series 7
An apparent battery failure caused an Apple Watch Series 7 to overheat and subsequently explode, according to a story from one Apple Watch owner.
The owner told 9to5Mac that he had noticed the Apple Watch had felt much hotter than usual, and the device displayed a high-temperature warning. Upon inspection, the owner noticed the back of the Apple Watch had cracked.
He then called Apple Support, where the call was escalated to a manager who created a case for further investigation. Apple Support advised the owner not to touch the watch until Apple contacted him again.
The following day, the owner awoke to find that the Apple Watch was rapidly heating up, and the display had been shattered. The owner then picked up the device, which began to make "crackling noises." The user claims it exploded just as he threw it out the window.
The man said that he sought medical attention for lead poisoning -- which was unnecessary given the incredibly small mass of lead that might end up in an Apple Watch from manufacturing. It's not clear if the man was burned from the incident.
He proceeded to alert Apple to the situation, who told him they would escalate the case further.
According to the owner, Apple sent a document requesting that he not share the story. However, he declined to sign the document.
On Wednesday, the company arranged a delivery pickup to take the device to its labs for further testing.
In May 2021, a man sought a class action suit against Apple for selling defective batteries and violating its warranty promises after his iPhone exploded in his face in 2019.
In March 2021, an Australian man who landed himself in the hospital after his iPhone X exploded in his pocket. He too sought compensation from Apple.
It's not clear how old the man's Apple Watch Series 7 was. Early, catastrophic failures of lithium ion batteries in Apple products are rare and notably lower than the average failure rate across the mobile device industry.
The cracked back and high-temperature warnings on the Apple Watch from the previous night were clear indications that there was something dramatically wrong with the battery. If you are ever presented with similar, remove the device from the inside of your vehicle or house, and contact Apple's -- or the applicable vendor's -- support.
Read on AppleInsider
Apple Watch Series 7
An apparent battery failure caused an Apple Watch Series 7 to overheat and subsequently explode, according to a story from one Apple Watch owner.
The owner told 9to5Mac that he had noticed the Apple Watch had felt much hotter than usual, and the device displayed a high-temperature warning. Upon inspection, the owner noticed the back of the Apple Watch had cracked.
He then called Apple Support, where the call was escalated to a manager who created a case for further investigation. Apple Support advised the owner not to touch the watch until Apple contacted him again.
The following day, the owner awoke to find that the Apple Watch was rapidly heating up, and the display had been shattered. The owner then picked up the device, which began to make "crackling noises." The user claims it exploded just as he threw it out the window.
The man said that he sought medical attention for lead poisoning -- which was unnecessary given the incredibly small mass of lead that might end up in an Apple Watch from manufacturing. It's not clear if the man was burned from the incident.
He proceeded to alert Apple to the situation, who told him they would escalate the case further.
According to the owner, Apple sent a document requesting that he not share the story. However, he declined to sign the document.
On Wednesday, the company arranged a delivery pickup to take the device to its labs for further testing.
In May 2021, a man sought a class action suit against Apple for selling defective batteries and violating its warranty promises after his iPhone exploded in his face in 2019.
In March 2021, an Australian man who landed himself in the hospital after his iPhone X exploded in his pocket. He too sought compensation from Apple.
It's not clear how old the man's Apple Watch Series 7 was. Early, catastrophic failures of lithium ion batteries in Apple products are rare and notably lower than the average failure rate across the mobile device industry.
What to do if you're in a similar position
Lithium ion batteries are generally safe. Issues can evolve from what the industry calls a "runaway" thermal condition in the battery, or by severe impact or other physical damage to the device battery casing.The cracked back and high-temperature warnings on the Apple Watch from the previous night were clear indications that there was something dramatically wrong with the battery. If you are ever presented with similar, remove the device from the inside of your vehicle or house, and contact Apple's -- or the applicable vendor's -- support.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Why assume they are lying?
The one thing that is obviously disturbing here is the "According to the owner, Apple sent a document requesting that he not share the story. However, he declined to sign the document." Did the owner make this document available for an impartial party to review? It's quite possible that Apple would send some sort of written response with guidance on how to proceed, but the insinuation here is that Apple was trying to cover this up or somehow suppress the incident. Let's see that letter.
I hope there's a followup to this story including more details about how the device's initial state, how it was handled, and sequence of events once it was found to be in a compromised state. Telling the owner not to touch the watch may not have been the best advice if the failure progressed to what is described as an "explosion" the next day. It may have made more sense to tell the owner to move the watch to a safe location outside of the house, away from people, pets, and property. Perhaps putting it in a metal trash can or bucket outside living space would make more sense.
Someone needs to separate fact from fiction and dispense with the speculation until someone qualified to figure out exactly what happened digs into this incident.
However, the story just doesn't add up. First, if you notice a bulge and the watch warned of high temperature, common sense should tell you that you shouldn't do anything but shut down or leave it alone. There are plenty of mechanisms built to prevent explosion. Virtually all well built electronic devices have switches that will automatically shut down, even without notice if it detects potentially dangerous explosions or overheating about to happen.
His claim that Apple sent him a document to not tell the media about a defective product is dubious and sounds like a paranoid/delusional person would say. Show us the letter.
My gen. 2 Apple Watch had another issue wherein it was completely out of charge and would just not charge at all. Again, it was out of warranty so nothing could be done and I had to get a new one.
I'm currently on the one that first had the always-on display. It works perfectly fine. My next one will be the Ultra - either the first gen., or maybe the one that comes next. I am in no hurry.
The problem all electronics companies including Apple have, is that Li-ion batteries are only safe if if they’re manufactured and installed 100% correctly, and nothing involving people is ever 100% accurate 100% of the time. People make mistakes, and when you’re producing devices like these in the millions, one or two of those mistakes are going to literally blow up in someone’s face occasionally. It’s a risk we all take until some better battery technology comes along.
Also a lot of uninformed blather.
I had a lithium ion battery self-combust. It was packed in a carry-on suitcase and stowed in the overhead bin of a flight destined for Germany. As the cabin crew was making final boarding preparations the bin started smoking. They quickly removed the bag and carried it off the plane to the tarmac where it proceeded to burn (despite the efforts of at least half a dozen firemen and assorted extinguishers). The flight finally departed about an hour late. Some months later I got a summons from the FAA (I think) proposing to fine me several thousand dollars for the incident notwithstanding the bag had passed several layers of federal scrutiny before I boarded the airplane.
LI batteries can, and do, self-immolate. They may be "safe" 99% of the time. But that 1% is a bear. There may be no warning whatsoever and, once it starts, almost nothing you can do about it except let it burn out. I can say with 100% conviction that my battery wasn't damaged, hadn't been subjected to any blows (sharp, dull or otherwise) or unusual temperatures. It was also relatively new -- not more than 6 months old.
I'm pretty sure that this kind of incident -- LI batteries self-immolating -- is far more common than any governmental agency will admit.
So all of the comments here about "scam" and "his own fault" etc. are, in my experience, pretty ignorant.
One further comment:
It's pretty naive to say: "surely Apple wouldn't ask for an NDA"!
Maybe Timmy wouldn't ask, but Apple's lawyers sure as heck would -- standard procedure.
NDAs are abhorrent. Usually they are used to try and suppress information that should be public (despite Fifth Amendment protections).
But, so long as NDAs are legal, Apple's Directors would be negligent if they didn't require the lawyers to cover the company's behind.