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Chinese Woman Suffers Eye Injuries After iPhone 5 Explodes

roocka said:
Apple needs to invent a proprietary sensor that can detect if the device was EVER plugged into a third party charger that was not Apple approved. Then the damage caused at ANY time could be attributed to the faulty charger.
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Does Apple go around approving every single AC to USB DC charger out there that it considers safe?

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GSPice said:
Lol you don't get it do you, so you go straight to emoting.
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People online like to find stuff racist. I once got this guy really mad at me because I said that someone else's bad spelling was probably not due to not knowing English well (since he was using abbreviations like "bcuz"). It almost makes me want to outright troll.
 
I asked my wife about this without going into detail. Her answer began with, "Well......" (they usually do). She said that if the design of the phone caused the incident, the the manufacturer shares a larger share of responsibility. The user assumed the risk when she chose to continue using the phone, so she would share responsibility as well. It then becomes an issue of how much each responsibility each party shares, and any settlement.

When looking at these cases, both sides bring in as many parties as possible. The glass manufacturer would be one. My wife had a case were one of the corporate subsidiaries manufactured screws for a Dodge minivan roof rack. Someone tied a mattress to the rack, the rack came off while the van driven down the highway, and a couple were killed on the motorcycle behind it. Every company that had any part in that roof rack was named in the suit. My wife flew down to Texas in a company jet, along with her engineering expert. I think there were about 6 other corporate jets that landed at roughly the same time, and the rack and parts were laid out on a table in a hangar. Each party sent an attorney and engineer to look at the rack. The funny thing was none of the different parties spoke to each other, and after staring at the rack, they all got back in their jets, and left..... CRAZY! These companies all have insurance for this sort of thing, but they have self retention that could cause them to pay the first $250,000 +/-, depending on which company it is.
 
Surreal said:
They sorta do. Any one that asks. [Made for iPhone/iPod]
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Yeah, that's true. Still, since they have Lightning going to USB, they're asking for any generic USB charger to work with it. They'd have to detect if people are using Apple knockoff chargers or maybe if they're using chargers not made by certain reputable companies, but I'm not sure if that's possible.
 
ConCat said:
It's pretty simple. Morality has become a... Less important aspect in modern day life shall we say, thanks to communism, largely (it tends to have this effect on people). It's the only country that would try to stick antifreeze in toothpaste too. This kind of thing is not rare for China. Don't ask me for sources on the toothpaste thing; I'm sure plenty of articles about it are still up.
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Or trying to pass cardboard off as meat. Anyone remember that story?

Just wait till an iPhone goes nuclear and destroys a city. Won't be New York or London. It'll be somewhere China.
 
jsnuff1 said:
That does not look like the iPhone or its screen "exploded." Seems like she dropped the phone was upset about it and made up this story.
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Here's what happened, she dropped it. It broke, made the screen unresponsive. Tried to end call, probably got mad and started hitting or pushing the screen really hard. Part of the crack screen popped out into her eye. No explosion
 
BHP41 said:
Has yours? How many of the millions of iPhones out there, have actually "blown up" ???

Please, don't use your iPhone anymore, it has a 0.00000000000001% chance of "blowing up". You need to rethink what your actually saying. And I say this in these words to you because we're of the same class.
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Hey did you miss the 1st word of my sentence? I said IF. As in IF it happens they should warn you!! IF!! Do you get the meaning of IF.

"IF the phone will blowup then yes!" I want a warning.
 
I don't know about you, but after feeling a device that is normally cool to the touch, growing warmer over the time I'm using it, I'm not going to keep it anywhere near my face.
 
Allow me to make some sensible explanations.

1) Is it genuine Apple? Are all parts genuine Apple?
2) The crack is in the corner. This is consistent with a large force hitting that corner, not heat nor a puffed up battery.
3) She states the screen exploded when making a call, presumably making it hot. The only heat source is the battery. The battery is located roughly in the middle of the phone. An overheated battery could expand and could cause the screen to crack.... but in the middle. That's where the most stress would be. The corners and edges would see no bending stress and therefore wouldn't originate a crack.
4) Glass screens, warm batteries are not unique to the iPhone.

The shards flying into her eye could not originate from a mid-screen crack. But an overheated battery can only cause a mid-screen crack. Therefore this corner crack was not the battery's fault.
 
Millionaire2K said:
This is nonsense. A phone is a device that MANY people drop. It should NOT explode just because it was dropped.
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You sound like an accident waiting to happen. "Should"?? Reality might be a better place to live, try it out someday.

Lithium batteries that are damaged are a fire and even explosion hazard. Any damaged phone could have a damaged battery inside. You might not want to continue using them.

About the story...if that is an after-the-fact pic of the actual phone in question, I see no "explosion", like would be a battery issue, with fire. There would be more pieces missing, probably burn marks. Of course, we'll probably never have enough accurate facts to know, but that looks like a bent up corner that finally shot out a piece of glass that had been stressed from the prior accident.
 
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She was clearly holding it wrong.

Never a good idea to hold shattered glass against your face. Unfortunate situation.
 
I'm curious to know what caused such an explosion to occur in that awkward corner of the iPhone; it doesn't seem like there are any obviously dangerous components there.
 
dugbug said:
Dude apple does not have an exploding iphone problem. Chinese lawyers have discovered their version of hot coffee
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If they have discovered their version of hot coffee, then Apple does indeed have an exploding iPhone problem.

roocka said:
Apple needs to invent a proprietary sensor that can detect if the device was EVER plugged into a third party charger that was not Apple approved. Then the damage caused at ANY time could be attributed to the faulty charger.

I honestly think this is in Apple's best interest. If China wants to counterfeit, then the Chinese need to be aware of the risks. The problem is that there are entire counterfeit APPLE STORES. The new middle class in China have likely never been into an actual Apple Store and don't know how to differentiate the two.
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I seem to recall the lightning cable kind of has one built in - and that it's been copied already.
 
GSPice said:
Why is it always the Chinese? I almost don't care about stories like this anymore.
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Because China is the land of knockoff parts. It's very possible that she had a non apple screen,battery or both.

Although given that the screen was admittedly damaged it is possible so was the battery which is under the right hand side of the display. An impact that would chip the screen could have led to a sliver of the display getting into the phone and somehow puncturing the battery soft cell exposing the lithium to air which makes it highly unstable. Since the glass was already compromised from being cracked it isn't hard to believe it would fully rupture etc

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johnplacement said:
It's happen like month ago I was charging my iPhone 4 I bought i like 3 years ago.
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Which raises the possibility of worn out battery. If you keep charging a battery that is consumed it will heat up, expand etc.

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macbeta said:
I'm willing to bet that many many accidents happen/caused by other manufactures phones, its just when it happens with an iPhone it gets pumped up by the media.:apple:
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There is that to consider also. Same for why we don't hear about Samsung and Microsoft suing each other as much as we hear about either suing or being sued by Apple. Or why sites like this post articles that have nothing to do with Apple but drop something like 'iPad killer' in the headline to make it seem like it is connected.
 
gaximus said:
Here's what happened, she dropped it. It broke, made the screen unresponsive. Tried to end call, probably got mad and started hitting or pushing the screen really hard. Part of the crack screen popped out into her eye. No explosion
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Even though that is what could have happened, it may be an uphill battle for Apple, trying to prove that.

Millionaire2K said:
Good advise. Now Apple should run a campaign with their billions of Dollars to inform people of this better. Every day MANY people use broken iPhones. Consumer safety should be top priority and it would not hurt putting this warning on the glass cover of a new phone. Or have a warning pop up on the phone when it detects an impact.

"Warning!! A physical impact has been detected on your iPhone. Please have your iPhone inspected at your local Apple store. Use of a damaged iPhone, such as one with a cracked screen, may cause injury." Maybe include a phone number or link to Apple support. I think this would be a smart thing to add to any phone.
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I'm not saying, this cannot be done, but where does a manufacturer's responsibility end, and where does our responsibility as consumers start, to use some good old fashioned common sense in the way we conduct ourselves? Most manufacturers provide their products with ample product use and safety instructions, but they are no substitute for a healthy dose of common sense we all need, in our daily lives.

HiRez said:
I'm glad you asked, because as it turns out, yes, Apple does in fact have a warning right in the iPhone user manual (although a user really shouldn't need the warning, as it is common sense, they provide it anyway):

WARNING: Failure to follow these safety instructions could result in fire, electric shock, or other injuries, or damage to iPhone or other property. Read all the safety information below before using iPhone.

Handling Handle iPhone with care. It is made of metal, glass, and plastic and has sensitive electronic components inside. iPhone can be damaged if dropped, burned, punctured, or crushed, or if it comes in contact with liquid. Don’t use a damaged iPhone, such as one with a cracked screen, as it may cause injury. If you’re concerned about scratching, consider using a case.

And, the manual tells you in the very first sentence (highlighted) in Chapter 2 - Getting started:

WARNING: To avoid injury, read Important safety information on page 146 before using iPhone.
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Unfortunately, too many people don't read their manuals! When unpacking certain new products, you have probably come across one of those stickers, often with red lettering and large typeface, attached to a product in such a way, that you have to remove it, to be able to use the product for the first time. Almost always, that is a warning of some sort, that is also printed conspicuously somewhere in the user manual, yet manufacturers go to the trouble of putting that extra warning/caution on the product itself.

Some of those safety warnings, ominous as they may appear to be, have come into existence due to actual things that have happened to people.

Sadly (in this case), manufacturers can provide their products with the most readable and comprehensive manuals money can buy, but they are of no use, unless people actually read and follow them.
 
It's pretty obvious what happened... the battery got hot and expanded, putting pressure on the screen with enough force to send some debris 12" into someones eyes. Case closed. Whether or not the screen had already been cracked is a non-issue.

A friend's apartment in SF burned out because of a faulty ipod, true story.

If this had happened in the US, we might not even hear about it. But because the Chinese will jump all over anything Apple related, it's international news.
 
Smartphones are all about the same internally.
I doubt that the risk is very high for this to happen even with knockoff parts.
Still, China has got to learn that this quick money grab philosophy only hurts them in the longrun. Reputation is important. Ford makes great cars (per consumer reports) but b/c they truly used to suck, no one is buying them b/c it's going to take another 1-2 decades for them to recover, if they have that much time.

Chinese people won't buy anything that their own countrymen make. It doesn't take a genius to know that this erodes the very foundation of their economy long-term. There's cheaper and then there's outright crap. I'm betting that the aftermarket items are closer to outright crap.
 
I'm wondering if some sort of new unauthorized cable has come out in china and that's what these iPhone problems are stemming from. It's just odd how all these things are happening in China. Doesn't China have some sort of anti-iPhone sentiment?

I'm not trying to suggest anything, I'm just curious. Again, I just find it odd how these incidents are all happening in china. You would totally hear about it if something like this happened in the US, the way our media is, it would be front page news.
 
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