For years whistleblowers have signaled the problems associated with society’s obsession with smartphones. Poor posture from craned necks. A general lack of awareness. Not to mention the beating your eyes take staring at a bright little screen for an extended period of time. But nobody could have predicted that phones might begin to spontaneously erupt into giant balls of flame sending shrapnel flying within a 20-foot radius.
Over the last few months, embattled Samsung has sought to recall its Galaxy S7 and Note 7 phones after reports of the products spontaneously exploding. A recent video shows that Apple may soon be embroiled in a similar controversy.
Surf instructor Mat Jones, from Sydney, left his recently-purchased iPhone 7 in his car while he went out in the water to give a lesson. When he returned, smoke and ash had plumed in the interior of the vehicle, he said.
“As I looked into my car you could not see inside the car. All the windows were just black,” he told 7 News.
He opened the car, and it felt like a heatwave. Jones noticed the source of the smoke was the pair of pants he had wrapped his phone in before paddling out.
“Ash was coming from inside the pants. Once you unwrapped the pants, the phone was just melting inside of it.”
Jones insists that he hadn’t mishandled the phone, or used a different charger.
Apple is reportedly aware of the incident and has launched an investigation.
