Belgian boy's iPhone 'explodes'

After a spate of incidents in France, a 15-year-old Belgium boy today claimed he too has suffered at the hands of an allegedly exploding iPhone. So far there have been 11 reported cases of European iPhone screens which have spontaneously done crazy paving impersonations or - in a few extreme cases - suddenly shattered. All 11 …

[James 5]

So how many iPhones...

.. have been sold in France?

Divide the number of exploding iPhones by those bought/in use. Multiply by 100 to get the percentage - if it's miniscule then it's hardly of major concern. I suspect it'll be way, way below the level of returns to any major supermarket on a daily basis.

How many TVs, radios, MP3 players liquidate themselves in a heated fashion? How many people set fire to their houses and selves by smoking? What is the exact risk of death/injury by iPhone compared to any other daily risk?

It's a problem, for Apple, and the users. But they need to investigate it and fix it.

[Chronos]

That'll be right

Just send all the evidence to Apple and get forced to sign an NDA. What a good idea!

[Bassey]

How do you return it?

Are you allowed to send an iPhone through the post? My understanding is that the Post Office won't accept explosive devices?

[Fred Flintstone]

@ How do you return it?

As it already *has* exploded it should no longer be termed an "explosive" device.

But you highlight another issue: *new* iPhones shouldn't then travel by post :-).

[Anonymous Coward]

Part of Job's master plan.

Soon as you dare say anything bad about the iPhone it explodes and tries to take your head off as part of Steve Job's master plan to turn the world into a bunch of Apple zealots.

[handle]

"isolated"

In other words, no-one pressed the master "self-destruct button" which causes every one to vapourise simultaneously.

[Anonymous Coward]

@James 5

Ummmmm you cant say that....

If a supermarket sells 1 dodgy meal, which ends up giving ebola to the customer and they die. You cant then go and say "well its only 0.00000000000001%" of it's customers, it OK then"

Same with this. Even if 1 iphone explodes and injures someone, it just shows there is something wrong and rather than going "well it's only such and such percent", why not tell Apple to get it's arse in gear and sort the problem out, or will you only be worried when someones toddler gets it's face blown off by an exploding iphone?

Even MS admitted problems with the xbox 360 overheating, the fact that Apple are off trying to cover up every story with a palty "we'll replace your iphone" is nothing short of fucking pathetic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re:So how many iPhones...

True, other devices melt down, but to be fair I don't keep my TV in my pocket just an inch or so from my bollocks.

[Lloyd]

There's only two things I hate in this world.

People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch

[Anonymous Coward]

Micacle - like UFOs

No photos on any news sites of these mysterious exploding iPhones ?

[steogede]

Fool me once

>> It's not clear when the incident is alleged to have taken place, but the boy told the paper Apple has offered him a replacement handset if he sent his damaged phone back.

It is a bit like a bus driver offering to run you down again, by way of an apology for running you down and *only* almost killing you. After being nearly killed* by his iPhone, I'm sure he's just begging to give them an opportunity to get it right - and actually kill him. At the very least they should be offering him a full refund and payment of any fees necessary to release him from his phone contract, not to mention data recovery and transfer.

* yes I know he was in no way harmed, but it's friday afternoon.

[psyq]

For all those dismissing this as a abnormality...

Look,

Would you buy a car that has spontaneously combusted in "only 11 cases" ? No? I though so :)

How many notebooks combusted in flames before Sony decided to do a global battery recall? I recon far less than 11...

How many phones are sold by e.g. Nokia? Hundreds of millions - still, I cannot recall this amount of cockups.

[MrM]

@James 5

Pull your Dick out of your Iphone you sad Bastard!

[Anonymous Coward]

@How many iPhones

"Divide the number of exploding iPhones by those bought/in use. Multiply by 100"

... take away the number you first thought of and.... seriously are you for real? The total number of handsets sold is far far bigger than the iPhone sales, yet, with the exception of some Chinese fake batteries , they don't explode.

I reckon it's the lithium bag battery, as opposed to the rigid plastic cell battery they use in phones. (see this photo). If the plates are pinched at all, a short and bang.

http://www.topblogposts.com/files/inside-iphone-hardware/1.jpg

But then I don't like that the battery isn't replaceable and has a limited lifespan anyway.

[Ben Rosenthal]

return it?

why bother? they'd only send you a new one!

[gjw]

About time —

for an EU wide ban on iPhone imports until the Council and the Commission have investigated this matter thoroughly.

Evil Steve: fire, hell, you get the picture.

[B 9]

I think you're all going to be eating some crow on this one

I'm with James. 11 phones out of how many? It is far below statisitically insignificant. So does that mean it shouldn't be investigated . . . no. Does it mean that armchair idiots should shut up until the investigation is complete. . . yes!

Why don't we wait until we have something more substantial than "reports". Like a photo. In fact I'd love a photo of this iPhone in this story because it apparently exploded "inside the phone" and still managed to give the kid a headache? Does that even sound real or plausible?

This sounds like knockoff phones or batteries, or outright lies and sensationalism.

[Jurassic]

And...

In other news, a Dutch boy stuck his finger in a dyke… and she loved it ;-)

[Dave Jewell]

Onions or snails?

Why is this only happening in France? What exactly are the frenchies doing to their iPhones? I think we should be told....

Dave