Another newly shipped Apple iPhone 7 caught fire and destroyed a car in what looks similar to the same type of battery fires that forced a worldwide recall of all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 units.
Australian surfing instructor Mat Jones says that he left his week-old iPhone 7 covered by a pair of pants in his car while he went out to give a lesson.
When Jones came back from surfing, he immediately noticed that all the windows of his car were blacked-out. As Jones opened the car’s door, he was hit by a big heat wave, and then smoke started billowing out of the vehicle.
According to The 7 Network, the highest-rating Australian commercial free-to-air television network, Jones says he has no doubt that the iPhone was the source of the fire. “Ash was just coming from inside the pants which then, once you wrapped open the pants, the phone was just melting inside of it.”
Jones says that he had just bought the new iPhone 7 a week ago and claims that it was not hit or dropped. He also swears that he has not used any type pf third-party chargers to recharge the device. The issue is important, since it is known that there have been fires with users that have not relied on stock Apple accessories for charging.
Apple confirmed to 7 News that they are aware of the incident, have already been in touch with Jones, and are investigating. Apple stated that it will not comment any further until it confirms what caused the fire. Photos and video footage of the car are available on the 7 News link.
Breitbart News reported on September 29 that an iPhone 7 had exploded. Apple has since blamed that first incident on “heavy mechanical damage to the phone,” which supposedly caused a catastrophic overheating of its lithium-ion battery.
The iPhone 7 has a 14 percent longer battery life due to the new standard model 1960 mAh battery, versus the 1750 mAh in the iPhone 6. Apple claims that improved technology allowed for a more powerful battery that is actually smaller than prior iPhone handsets.
Breitbart News expressed concern when reporting the earlier story that the new higher storage cells in the iPhone 7 battery may suffer from the same inefficient combination of chemicals as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 “phablet” that has been subject to a worldwide recall.
The Galaxy Note 7 “phablet” was unveiled to rave reviews, but the total shipment of the large format phone was only 2.5 million units. The cost for Samsung to suspend worldwide sales and recall the shipments is estimated at $5 billion.
Digitimes sources estimate that iPhone 7 shipments, based on contract manufacturers’ earnings reports, are expected come in at roughly 80 million units by year end. A recall on that scale could cost over $100 billion.
The biggest iPhone controversy was #bendgate, where iPhone 6 Plus phablets started to go out of shape in users’ pockets. Apple resolved the problem quickly by replacing its build materials with a sturdier aluminum. But there was never any danger to a user from injury that might mandate an immediate recall.
The FAA reported in March that it was investigating a teenager’s iPhone 6 that burst into flames mid-air on an Alaska Airlines flight to Hawaii carrying 163 passengers. Spring-break-bound sophomore Anna Crail was watching a movie when, she says, “All of a sudden there was like 8-inch flames coming out of my phone.”
Lithium-battery incidents have afflicted everything from iPhones, Tesla cars, Boeing jetliners, Hewlett Packard laptops and Hoverboards. Lithium-ion batteries store lots of energy in a tiny space, and the cells’ walls are separated by ultra-thin combustible components. A chemical chain reaction can quickly escalate out of control.
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