Apple says 'looking into' video of apparent iPhone 7 Plus meltdown

Apple is investigating the circumstances behind a widely circulated video showing a partially melted, smoking iPhone 7 Plus, the result of what appears to be a major device malfunction, reports said late Thursday.

On Wednesday, Brianna Olivas posted to Twitter a video of smoke billowing from a large crack in her rose gold iPhone 7 Plus. Seen below, the footage reveals a large section of the iPhone's display pulling away from its aluminum chassis anchoring, then delaminating from its coverglass only seconds later.

As of this writing, Olivas' video accumulated well over 1 million views and has been retweeted more than 22,000 times.

In a statement to Mashable, Olivas said she experienced problems powering up her device, which was purchased from a Sprint store in January, just one day prior to the video. She took the phone in to an Apple store for testing, but employees — presumably Geniuses — found the device to be working normally.

The next morning, Olivas had the iPhone charging next to her head. Her boyfriend, rather fortuitously, moved it to a nearby dresser as he made his way to the restroom, moments later seeing the device "steaming" and making a "squealing" noise. He quickly grabbed the iPhone and put it on Olivas' bathroom sink, where the device "blew up."

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

While the exact cause of the meltdown is unknown, the wispy white smoke is indicative of a catastrophic battery pack failure in which vaporized electrolyte material is emitted. The event, sometimes caused by a thermal runaway, is often characterized by the cascading disintegration of neighboring cells.

Beyond what appears to be a bulging effect where the iPhone 7 Plus battery pack lives, the presence of chemical stains seen on the damaged device's exterior further support the theory of a battery failure.

In any case, Olivas has since handed the phone over to Apple. The company has yet to issue an explanation of the incident, saying only, "We are in touch with the customer and looking into it."

Though smartphone users have for years been aware of rare battery malfunctions, consumers are perhaps more sensitive to the dangers of lithium-ion cell failures after Samsung's recent Galaxy Note 7 fiasco brought the issue to the fore. Shortly after the Korean tech giant launched its Note 7 phablet last year, users began to complain of exploding or combusting handsets. As reports piled in, Samsung was forced to halt shipments in late August, later deciding to activate a voluntary global recall of some 2.5 million devices.

Replacement Note 7 units suffered from the same problems, prompting Samsung to stop all sales of the device on Oct. 10 and discontinue the product line a day later. A subsequent investigation into the matter revealed manufacturing and design flaws led to the conflagrations.

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54 Comments

radarthekat 3902 comments · 12 Years

About 7 years ago

Hopefully an isolated incident that can be explained after Apple's investigation.

movingincircles 27 comments · 15 Years

Interesting. I was at the Apple Store Genius Bar last week. Saw a customer with an iPhone 7 plus. He said his phone was next to his bed charging and he saw it randomly reboot. Unfortunately the iPhone never got pass the Apple logo screen and he said the phone felt really warm even after unplugging it from the charger. The genius guy couldn't get it to restore. I was finished with my appointment before I saw what the Genius did to help the guy.

JinTech 1054 comments · 9 Years

Wonder if they are using Apple branded wall chargers or third party.

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

JinTech said:

Wonder if they are using Apple branded wall chargers or third party.

While it's entirely possible that out of over a billion products Apple has sold with a lithium-ion polymer battery that they caught on camera a defective unit, I'd guess the most likely culprit is from cheap and/or counterfeit PSUs. Maybe Apple should do more to keep their devices from accepting power from questionable chargers or maybe we need regulations that prevent poorly made PSUs and cables from being at every check out counter.

ericthehalfbee 4489 comments · 13 Years

Soli said:

JinTech said:

Wonder if they are using Apple branded wall chargers or third party.

While it's entirely possible that out of over a billion products Apple has sold with a lithium-ion polymer battery that they caught on camera a defective unit, I'd guess the most likely culprit is from cheap and/or counterfeit PSUs. Maybe Apple should do more to keep their devices from accepting power from questionable chargers or maybe we need regulations that prevent poorly made PSUs and cables from being at every check out counter.

No. I already debunked this last time. The circuitry (usually a power management IC) to control battery charging is inside the iPhone. The charger is just a "dumb" power supply that sends voltage to the charging circuit.

These circuits are fairly robust and can handle overvoltages several times their normal operating voltage (5V for iPhones from USB). They also have protection to shut down in case of excess voltage, short circuits or reverse polarity. In short, your battery isn't going to overcharge because the charger is putting out too much power since your battery has no direct connection to the charger.

In the case of extreme voltage (say 100V) the circuitry, circuit board traces and other components are going to go up in smoke (essentially a very expensive fuse) long before any of that voltage gets to your battery. So you'd have a small smoke show, but your battery would be ok.