Apple says it’s “looking into” an incident involving an iPhone 7 Plus setting on fire. Footage of the device emitting a stream of smoke was posted on Twitter by an Arizona teen, identified by Mashable as 18-year-old Brianna Olivas. When asked about the incident, an Apple spokesperson told the publication: “We are in touch with the customer and looking into it.”
Of course, any incident involving phones setting on fire instantly brings to mind Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 debacle. But at this point in time there’s no reason to think this is anything but a one-off — rather than some systemic fault with the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus.
It’s not clear what might have caused the fault. Olivas told Gizmodo that she’d only been using the official Apple charger with the phone (faulty wiring in knock-off chargers is often a cause of problems), and that she hadn’t had any trouble with the device until this week. After the device failed to switch on she reportedly took it to an Apple store where employees ran diagnostic tests but found no faults.
So my IPhone 7 plus blew up this morning was not even using it, literally no explanation for this pic.twitter.com/sQ8CJt4Y69
— Bree✨ (@briannaolivas_) February 23, 2017
“The next morning I was asleep with my phone charging next to my head, my boyfriend grabbed the phone and put it on the dresser,” Olivas told Mashable. “He went to the restroom … and from the corner of his eye he saw my phone steaming and [heard] a squealing noise. By the time he got over to the phone it had already caught fire, he quickly grabbed the phone and threw it in the restroom … as soon as he threw it in the restroom it blew up and more smoke started coming out of the phone.”
Olivas says she gave the phone to Apple and the company issued her a replacement device. Representatives for the firm reportedly told her they are conducting tests and expect to know more in a week’s time.
TheVerge.com
