Woman dies using a charging iPhone 5, Apple vows to aid in investigation

Apple has said it will aid in the investigation of the death of a Chinese woman who was allegedly electrocuted when she answered a charging iPhone 5.

In an e-mail sent to Reuters, Apple said the company is "deeply saddened" by the "tragic incident" that killed 23-year-old Xinjiang woman Ma Ailun. Apple vowed to "fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter."

Police say Ma was killed when she answered a call on her charging iPhone 5. The story gained traction when her sister wrote on the microblog Sina Weibo to warn other users to be careful.

Prior to the incident in China, there have been no widespread claims about faulty charging with the iPhone 5. Apple did recall iPhone 3G power adapters back in 2008 over a shocking risk that affected just a "very small" number of adapters.

Negative publicity in China regarding warranty policies prompted Apple to issue a formal apology in April. Since then, the company has been more aggressive in publicly responding to negative reports from the Chinese media.

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108 Comments

andreid

said about 10 years ago

Was the charger original ?

MacPro

said about 10 years ago

Not that I am saying this is what happened here but a friend of mine had a new charger unit for his MBP which he purchased on Amazon. After discovering he kept getting small shocks from his MBP's case I checked it out. It turned out to be a cheap Chinese knock off and had zero earthing. Apple use a pretty sophisticated ground balancing technology in their chargers. I can imagine had the fake Apple charger he had, become wet from the outlet and no GFI in circuit, a potential major shock could have resulted. I am not sure the phone chargers work the same way as the MBP chargers.

postulant

said about 10 years ago

I'm wondering why AI left out the part that she got out of the bathtub to answer a call while dripping with water???

techno

said about 10 years ago

I too would investigate the possibility that it was a knockoff charger.

nkhm

said about 10 years ago

This woman deserves a Darwin Award. She got out of the bath and got hold of an electric device plugged into the mains? Seriously? That's not a design flaw, it's an act of stupidity. An unfortunate accident definitely, and a sad loss for her friends and family, but no technological issue here, a biological one!