It was hoverboards previously, if you recall. They were frying during charging, and in the United States, spontaneous combusting and setting off house fires. More than one burned down homes, and in the United Kingdom, officials found a hoard of 90 defective hoverboards that all burnt out.
It’s the battery, of course, that’s causing the issue. But exactly what about lithium-ion batteries makes them so combustible? JerryRig explains on YouTube. The common reasons are short-circuiting, the circuit board that controls and prevents the battery from over-charging not functioning well, or metal impurities in the lithium.
The latest news? An iPhone 7 exploded en route to its owner. No one was injured in the process, except, of course the phone. According to Redditr kroopthesnoop, a co-worker had ordered the iPhone 7 Plus, and when it arrived it looked like this.
It’s not just Galaxy Note 7s that are blowing up. But this is an isolated incident for now.
It adds to the long list of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones that have exploded, prompting a massive 2,000,000 phone recall. But as it turns out, someone’s replacement Galaxy Note 7 has in fact exploded. Hui Renjie, a Galaxy Note 7 owner from China, had gotten his replacement phone and was charging it when it blew up, damaging his Macbook and two fingers.
Image by Hui Renjie
Scientists suggest that due to the demand for slimmer phones, connection points are now so thin that a slight impact can cause the battery to short circuit, which then results in an exploding phone. For both Apple and Samsung, however, 7 doesn’t seem to be such a lucky number after all.
