iPad Air Explodes In Cell Phone Store

A new iPad Air device exploded into flames in a Canberra, Australia, cell phone store according to multiple media reports. The store had to be evacuated, and the local fire department responded to the scene.

The tablet was reportedly a demonstration model and was completely destroyed.

The iPad Air — which shall we say is a “hot” topic in the tech world — is the fifth generation of Apple’s tablet and is touted as not only being extremely light but may also be a lot faster than previous versions. According to one set of benchmarks, the iPad Air is 80% faster than the iPad 4, a notable performance increase for such a thin and light device.

The Australian news site news.com.au reported that “‘A burst of flames’ appeared from the charging port of an iPad demo model, a Vodafone spokesperson confirmed… The fire brigade was called in after the store filled with smoke and sparks continued to appear from the charging port. No staff members or customers were injured during the incident, Vodafone confirmed.”

In reporting on the incident of the iPad Air bursting into flames, PCMag added that “According to a Vodafone spokesperson, flames initially appeared right around the device’s charging port. That’s about as much information as we currently know about the potential cause of the iPad Air’s woes, and many others are speculating that it was the charging act itself that was caused the kerboom.”

Apparently an Apple rep retrieved the device from the store, and the company will be running tests to try to figure out what might have caused the explosion. Apple has yet to issue an official statement on this incident.

Separately, while this hardly depicts normal Apple iPad Air use by any means and so may be somewhat unfair, a “tech assassin” video purportedly shows what happens when an iPad is dropped from five feet onto gravel, dropped into water, and shot with an Airsoft M7 air gun.