Recently, a video was released by 18-year-old Brianna Olivas, a college student from Tucson, Arizona. The video detailed her rose gold iPhone 7 Plus melting and smoking next to a bathroom sink.
Apple is currently investigating the video and said that they have talked to Olivas when she brought her damaged iPhone into an Apple Store. The phone apparently caught fire due to battery issues. In the video, the back could be seen deformed due to the swollen battery. Olivas later released photos of the damage that the iPhone sustained on the back and the side.
This video raised some eyebrows since a similar issue happened with Apple’s rival Samsung not too long ago. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 was removed from store shelves after several units caught fire due to issues with the phone’s battery.
https://twitter.com/briannaolivas_/status/834557819651186688
Olivas’ phone was the 128GB iPhone 7 Plus model. She bought the phone from Sprint on January 4, 2017, more than a month before it catching fire. Olivas first started to notice issues with the phone earlier this week, when the phone wouldn’t turn on, despite the battery still having more than half charge remaining. When the phone finally did come back on after plugging it in on Monday, it only stayed on the Apple logo momentarily, and then shut off again.
On Tuesday, Olivas took the phone to her local Sprint store. An employee was able to get it to turn back on, but the screen displayed an odd yellow color. When the Sprint employee ran diagnostics on the phone, they found nothing wrong with the device.
Finally, on Wednesday, while Olivas was asleep, the iPhone caught fire on her dresser next to her bed. The noise emitting from the phone woke Olivas. Her boyfriend quickly threw the phone in the bathroom, where the video of the smoking iPhone was shot and then posted on Twitter.
Olivas stated that the phone was never damaged before catching fire. She also mentioned that she only ever used the charger that came with her phone.
Following the incident, Olivas took the phone to a local Apple Store, where they replaced the phone, as well as the plastic case. Olivas has had no contact with Apple since replacing her phone. However, an Apple spokesperson stated that they are staying in touch with Olivas and investigating the incident further. Apple is currently running tests on the phone that caught fire.
https://twitter.com/briannaolivas_/status/834556234166448128
The lithium ion batteries built into smartphones were the focus after the many fire incidents relating to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. This is also not the first case of an iPhone 7 catching fire. In October of 2016, an Australian man claimed that his iPhone caught fire and destroyed his car. It has yet to be reported whether or not these incidents are related and if this means that there is a larger issue at hand. If so, this might lead the iPhone 7 to a fate similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7. The iPhone 7 first went on sale on September 16, 2016.
