Exploding iPhones have been reported by several users in China, according to a report posted on the website of the Shanghai Consumer Council, a consumer watchdog group. Yahoo Tech! covered the story via AFP .
“Fresh on the heels of Samsung’s worldwide Galaxy Note 7 safety fiasco, the state-run Shanghai Consumer Council (SCC) said it had received eight reports in recent months of iPhones that spontaneously combusted while being used or charged,” the Yahoo! article reads.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Samsung issued a massive recall of its Galaxy Note 7 Android after receiving 35 reports of handsets either catching fire, smoking, melting, or exploding. The South Korean firm instructed retailers to pull the phones from the shelves in every country they had been delivered to, recalling roughly 2.5 million of the phones in all.
It was a heartbreaking disappointment for the company, considering that the Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be the much-anticipated new flagship model for Samsung’s smartphone division. Many in the industry thought the phone might actually allow Samsung to overtake Apple in the U.S. smartphone market for the first time. Instead, the recall crippled Samsung’s market share for the quarter, and it is estimated that it will cost the company approximately $5.3 billion.
The tendency for the Galaxy Note 7 to overheat or even explode apparently stemmed from a faulty battery design.
Chinese users claim iPhones exploding, catching fire https://t.co/p3pPMRWGIj pic.twitter.com/836QrvuVOs
— Express Tribune Tech (@ETribuneTech) December 6, 2016
There is no indication that Apple plans a recall of iPhones due to them potentially exploding at this point.
“Apple should be responsible for consumers,” the report from the SCC reads. “A large amount of consumer complaints are not solved effectively.”
The report also suggested that complaints that are addressed should be addressed in a more timely manner, according to Yahoo! .
One complaint came from a woman who claimed her iPhone 6s Plus “exploded” in August, “shattering the screen and leaving the battery and back of the phone blackened,” the Yahoo! article notes.
Apple provided the woman with a new iPhone but did not address the cause of the incident, the report said.
In addition to the complaints about exploding iPhones, the SCC says it has also received numerous reports of what Apple refers to as “accidental shutdown,” which occurs when phones with a charged battery nevertheless shuts off. Accidental shutdown has been reported most frequently with the iPhone 6 and 6s models.
All in all, the SCC says it has received a sixfold increase in complaints about iPhones in the past two months.
Apple has offered replacement batteries to Chinese users for iPhones suffering from accidental shutdown that were manufactured between September and October of 2015.
Exploding iPhones and accidental shutdown are not the only problems Apple has faced with its popular iPhones in recent months.
‘iPhone in fire’ – #Chinese #iPhone users have reported their phones ‘explodes’ https://t.co/IKzwzxLgKO
— Voice Of People (@VOP_Health) December 5, 2016
In August, the Inquisitr reported that many iPhone 6 or 6 Plus handsets had been plagued by what is called “ touch disease .”
“[A] growing number of iPhone 6 and 6 Pluses suffering from touch disease are being sent in for repair each month,” the Inquisitr article reads. “The phones all display the same symptoms. A flashing gray bar appears at the top of the screen, and the touchscreen begins to to perform poorly or becomes ‘frozen.’”
Reports of touch disease came soon after widespread complaints that became collectively known as “Bendgate.” Those complaints centered around the tendency of the new iPhone 6s to bend or even break when being carried in a user’s pocket. Apple addressed that issue by replacing damaged iPhones and using stronger materials in future production.
It is unlikely that Apple will issue any sort of recall unless a substantial number of new reports of exploding iPhones come to light.
However, the reports of any potential issues with their phones in the Asia market comes at a particularly troubling time. Recent reports show that the iPhone is losing ground to its smartphone competitors in Asia , particularly to Chinese brands like the telecommunications company Huawei.
Reports of exploding iPhones certainly won’t help the smartphone giant regain any ground in may have lost in Asia.
[Featured Image by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]
