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Apple Investigating iPhone 7 Plus Caught Melting on Video

if you look closely at her photos on twitter, you can see that her charging cable is fully bent...seems cable is fraying...first pic bottom right...either she is using a cheap 3rd party lighting cable or her Apple one is broken...which can definitely lead to problems, don't know if that would cause the phone to melt, but I think last year a women in Asia got electrocuted and died because of a faulty charging cable....Apple needs to look at her lightening cables...once mine frays I throw them away
 
dilbert99 said:
A cable won't fry a charging circuit it simply carries current.
A device being charged draws current.
I guess charging circuit could be affected by the voltage being supplied by the wall charger.
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The protection machinsim should also prevent that as well. If the charger pumps more voltage than the devices allowed to receive, the device should only receive the max it received.

Like iPhone 7 plug into iPad charger.
 
C DM said:
But isn't the part that regulates how much power is taken on by the device and at what rate within the device itself rather than the cable?
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You are correct.
And iPhone/iPad chargers do not have any kind of chip in them. They simply have a resistor that tells the device how much current it can safely draw from the charger. That's how the phone knows to draw 1A from the standard charger but only 500mA from a laptop's USB port.
The Lightning cable does have a chip but the charger doesn't.
 
emm386 said:
...we don't know what really happened...
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Yes we do, thanks to the great MacRumors community I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that:

This was a set-up job, it's a fake iPhone with a Samsung after-market battery connected to a Chinese knock-off charging cable and charger which was most likely all stolen as the person in the video clearly talks like they couldn't afford an iPhone.

This couldn't ever happen to an Apple product or be Apple's fault because something something something. What more do you need to know?

🙄
 
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PinkyMacGodess said:
My thoughts exactly. I was offered a 'free charger' at a local gas station. I laughed and declined. 'But it's FREEEEE!' the person cried as I walked out...
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gcmexico said:
if you look closely at her photos on twitter, you can see that her charging cable is fully bent...seems cable is fraying...first pic bottom right...either she is using a cheap 3rd party lighting cable or her Apple one is broken...which can definitely lead to problems, don't know if that would cause the phone to melt, but I think last year a women in Asia got electrocuted and died because of a faulty charging cable....Apple needs to look at her lightening cables...once mine frays I throw them away
Click to expand...
macduke said:
Five bucks says they were using a $3 knock-off charger from Amazon or elsewhere. And by five bucks, I mean each of you has to give me five bucks if I'm right 😀.
Click to expand...

And yet...

LovingTeddy said:
The protection machinsim should also prevent that as well. If the charger pumps more voltage than the devices allowed to receive, the device should only receive the max it received.

Like iPhone 7 plug into iPad charger.
Click to expand...

Gjwilly said:
You are correct.
And iPhone/iPad chargers do not have any kind of chip in them. They simply have a resistor that tells the device how much current it can safely draw from the charger. That's how the phone knows to draw 1A from the standard charger but only 500mA from a laptop's USB port.
The Lightning cable does have a chip but the charger doesn't.
Click to expand...
 
nviz22 said:
Why do we have double standards here? From misleading titles to people being more subjective about Apple compared to how they discuss Samsung's issue?
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And you don't think you see the reverse on a Samsung or Android rumor site?
 
C DM said:
And yet...
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Just about every instance I've seen in the past of an iPhone melting or catching fire or what have you usually ends up involving some cruddy third party cables or charger. It's why Apple has pushed so hard for counterfeits on places like Amazon to be removed and has their MFi program to keep standards higher. There is probably only so much voltage that regulators like that can absorb. The heat still has to go somewhere, right?
 
gcmexico said:
if you look closely at her photos on twitter, you can see that her charging cable is fully bent...seems cable is fraying...first pic bottom right...either she is using a cheap 3rd party lighting cable or her Apple one is broken...which can definitely lead to problems, don't know if that would cause the phone to melt, but I think last year a women in Asia got electrocuted and died because of a faulty charging cable....Apple needs to look at her lightening cables...once mine frays I throw them away
Click to expand...

that 12V car battery and 1-2W car adapter usually won't kill you. besides - as others have already mentioned, it's just a cable, it won't influence the power-intake regulated by the phone. the woman in asia probably had a faulty charger - i'd guess her iphone still works. it's a lithium-ion battery blowing up - it could have been damaged in a hundred ways, from manufacturing to transport to "normal" usage - they are just not that safe. i can guarantee you that it's more likely to die from a fire caused by a (i)phone used under perfectly normal conditions than from a faulty charging cable - just put some electrical tape over your frayed cable and worry about the battery instead.
 
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So.... your girlfriends phone starts smoking and you immediately start recording? What the hell is wrong with people.

Put the camera down and deal with what's in front of you.
 
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C DM said:
If the mechanism/algorithm to control the charging is within the device itself, then how could a cable not stop charging if the device simply would stop accepting the charge from the cable?
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Don't waste your breath. Some people have no understanding of electronics. You are absolutely right though, the control mechanism is fully contained in the phone. That'd be horrible design to have it in the adapter or cable. Just goes to show people buy the "it's a cheap cable" argument without any knowledge.
[doublepost=1487951355][/doublepost]
macduke said:
Five bucks says they were using a $3 knock-off charger from Amazon or elsewhere. And by five bucks, I mean each of you has to give me five bucks if I'm right 😀.
Click to expand...

Wrong. A charger would be the point of failure, not the phone.
[doublepost=1487951421][/doublepost]
PinkyMacGodess said:
My thoughts exactly. I was offered a 'free charger' at a local gas station. I laughed and declined. 'But it's FREEEEE!' the person cried as I walked out...
Click to expand...

You apparently don't understand a charger doesn't what you think it does. It simply converts from AC to DC. It doesn't control the charging mechanism for a phone at all. Pleas stop spreading this crap the cheap converters will kill your phone.
[doublepost=1487951540][/doublepost]
TheRealTVGuy said:
So.... your girlfriends phone starts smoking and you immediately start recording? What the hell is wrong with people.

Put the camera down and deal with what's in front of you.
Click to expand...

And if they didn't, you would have said "i don't believe you. no video." or "i don't believe you. it was set up". For most people seeing is believing. Even then, they point to stuff they have no understanding of like a charger, or the cable.
 
TheRealTVGuy said:
So.... your girlfriends phone starts smoking and you immediately start recording? What the hell is wrong with people.

Put the camera down and deal with what's in front of you.
Click to expand...

so there's something wrong with me if i want to record my phone on fire? it's not something you see every day and you if it's true, it's good to have that evidence for Apple.

i think there's something wrong with people who don't want this to be recorded.
 
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I had my first iPhone 7 give the on screen overheating notice, and finally plugged it in to it sparking. Exchanged the next day at the T-Mobile store I got it at.

Then later returned that one because I realized the plus model was far superior. Haven't had issues since.
 
Oldfash33 said:
Possible of course, but I call BS
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Sure. Fires only happen to other phones, never Apple phones, even when it's documented.
[doublepost=1487954624][/doublepost]
btrach144 said:
$20 she was using a cheap 3rd party charger that caused the incident.
[doublepost=1487929093][/doublepost]
Is it bad that I imagine someone talking like this likely makes minimum wage or still gets money from the bank of dad? Then I begin to wonder how Ms. Oh Hell can even afford an iPhone 7 Plus with an IQ like that.... Sigh
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Why would the owner use a third party charger when a brand new apple branded charger is included with the device? Hmmm, exactly why?
 
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gcmexico said:
if you look closely at her photos on twitter, you can see that her charging cable is fully bent...seems cable is fraying...first pic bottom right...either she is using a cheap 3rd party lighting cable or her Apple one is broken...which can definitely lead to problems, don't know if that would cause the phone to melt, but I think last year a women in Asia got electrocuted and died because of a faulty charging cable....Apple needs to look at her lightening cables...once mine frays I throw them away
Click to expand...
Good observation. Apple cables have shielding that seems so much softer and thinner compared to the ones that came with my other phones from JTC and Samsung. I didn't notice it at first but the cable near to plug that goes in the lightning port was starting to swell and discolor to a brownish orange. I'm not sure what that indicated as to what was going on inside of the cable but I discarded it as soon as I noticed that. I'm very gentle with my charging equipment, yet I've gone through a few Apple iPhone and iPad chargers with what I consider premature wear and tear. I have read comments on this forum over the years that indicate that's a pretty common issue. At any rate I periodically check the charging cables around the house and make sure they aren't fraying or swelling.
 
TheRealTVGuy said:
So.... your girlfriends phone starts smoking and you immediately start recording? What the hell is wrong with people.

Put the camera down and deal with what's in front of you.
Click to expand...

In this world of "record it and post it" mentality?
He did what I would expect. Record, be semi-safe, post, contact Apple. And contact friends so they can see the event.

Especially after being told by the local Apple Store it was all hunky-dory.
 
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