iPhone explodes in man’s pocket, causes third-degree burns

Erik Johnson spent 10 days in a hospital burn unit this month, suffering from a football-sized third-degree burn to his upper thigh that was caused when his iPhone exploded in his pocket. Johnson was attending his cousin’s wake on Valentine’s day when the incident happened. He bent down to pick up the set of keys he had dropped, and said he heard a pop and then saw smoke coming from his pocket.

Johnson said he felt the burn instantly, his leg caught fire, and the heat was so intense it melted his pocket shut. The only way he could get the phone away from his leg to to rip off his pants. He said that a couple of people “actually said they could smell my body burning.”

Apple is reportedly investigating the issue, and Johnson is planning legal action against the company. His lawyer, Mike Della, said that even if it only happened once, that is one time too many, and questioned what if it happened to a child. However, it is not the first time an iPhone has exploded. An Arizona man claimed his phone burst into flames in his pocket in October, and last February a Maine middle school student suffered minor injuries after hers did the same.

Johnson still has the phone, the front of which is obviously damaged. The back is what really shows how hot it got. The phone is in a metal case, which is warped and stuck to the phone.

Ronald Gerber, CEO of Angelbeat, an IT event company, says with the millions, or even billions of phones sold in the last year, the rate of these incidents is infinitesimal. But he also says that the smallest bit of damage to the circuit board of the phone, or even using third-party charging devices, can cause the battery to overheat and spew out hot lithium. Johnson said that he charges his iPhone with an Apple cable.

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