Apple is conducting an investigation to confirm claims by a United States woman that her iPhone 7 Plus battery exploded and caught fire while it was just placed down – not charging.
The 18-year old Brianna Olivas, who comes from Tucson, Arizona, said that she was sleeping when she was suddenly woken by her boyfriend. He signaled the burning phone and quickly moved it away and took a video which he published online. The video has since gone viral.
Apple has since replaced the phone and the destroyed casing.
“So my IPhone 7 plus blew up this morning. Was not even using it, literally no explanation for this,” posted Brianna on Twitter where she goes by the name Bree.
Her post was followed by photos of the burnt iPhone 7 Plus that had already stopped smoking.
The short video posted by her boyfriend generated an interesting conversation online, with more than 23,000 people retweeting it.
iPhone 7 Plus Battery Explodes
BBC interviewed Brianna who said that she realized her phone had a problem just a day before catching fire.
At the first time, it had refused to turn on and so she took it to the store for fixing.
The specialists managed to turn it on and ran diagnostics. They told her that all was well and that it’s safe for use.
But the next morning everything was different. She was shocked to find her phone on fire.
Brianna said that she sleeps with her phone next to her head but her boyfriend had moved the phone to the drawer before heading to the shower. “It was on the bed right next to my head.”
While he was getting ready, he saw from the corner of his eyes the “phone smoking and heard a squealing noise coming from it. I woke up because I heard the noise and then he started raising his voice.”
It is then that he grabbed the phone and moved it to the bathroom where it blew up and smoked.
Apple, through its spokesperson, said that they are working closely with the affected customer to shade more light onto the matter.
Reminder of the Note 7
The iPhone 7 Plus Battery Explosion was a reminder of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco that befell Samsung in 2016. One customer had raised concerns over his Note 7 catching fire, an incident that was quickly followed by other cases of explosions. As a response, Samsung first recalled some Note 7 but the problem escalated and eventually led to a total cancellation of production.
Samsung released a report at the start of this year, placing blame on the battery used in the Note 7.
Could the iPhone 7 Plus Battery Explosion be another Note 7 case? Only time will tell.