Ohio Man ‘Exploring Legal Options’ After iPhone XS Max Reportedly Exploded In His Pocket, Per ‘9To5Mac’

A man in Columbus, Ohio is seeking legal action after his less than one-month old iPhone XS Max reportedly exploded in his pants pocket around December 12, according to 9To5Mac.

The man, who wished to be referred to as J. Hillard, claimed that he noticed a strange smell from his back pocket and then experienced a wave of heat burning his leg. Apple reportedly offered to ship him a new phone following the incident, but Hillard chose to explore his legal options instead.

“Once the phone was extinguished, I was left with a hole in my pants, fire extinguisher on my pants/shoes, and some pain/irritation in my buttocks region where the pocket of my pants was located,” Hillard said in a report detailing the experience.

Hillard took the melted device to an Apple store later that evening, where he said he spoke to an employee for about 20 minutes before having to wait another 40 to hear any updates about the status of his device.

“The employee resurfaced with the phone already packaged and told me that they were going to send it back to the engineering team,” Hillard continued. “The manager then came up to me and said that this is the only way that I could receive a replacement phone.”

The man said that Apple failed to acknowledge his damaged clothing and told him that nothing could be done in the store if they could not keep the damaged phone. Unsatisfied, he returned home with the device and called the Apple Care line, iDropNews reported.

Apple has not yet determined what caused the explosion.

After Hillard sent the Apple Care team photos of the damage, they offered him a new phone. However, he did not see this as a valid remedy to the situation. He is seeking restitution for his damaged clothing and shoes as well as money to cover the cost of his wireless service, which he could not use during his negotiations with Apple.

Hillard also visited a doctor after the incident to get X-rays and a check-up from the smoke inhalation and irritation. He claimed that when the fire began in his pocket, green and yellow smoke came from the iPhone, which he inhaled in the time it took him to realize what was happening and run to the restroom to remove his pants.

Hillard is now looking into a lawsuit for the physical and psychological damage.

While this is the first report of an iPhone XS Max randomly exploding, an iPhone X allegedly caught fire while updating to iOS 12.1 in November, according to PhoneArena.