Apple has an explosive problem with phones exploding in China

Photo credit: Wikimedia.

When you think of exploding gadgets, you probably think Samsung, and with good reason. But over the past few months, Apple has been dogged by several so-called “thermal incidents” of its own in China, with customers claiming that their iPhones made like Galaxy Note 7s and exploded.

Apple has been looking into these incidents, and just yesterday it announced that its investigations thus far show the phones exploded due to external damage, not because the batteries exploded on their own. But the ink was barely dry on that story before another damaging report started circulating. Mr. Lin, of Ningbo, used to own an iPad. Now, he owns this:

Lin claims that the iPad caught fire in the middle of the night while it was charging, scorching his desk and blasting parts all across the room. “Thankfully it’s winter so I was wearing a lot of clothing,” Mr. Lin told reporters, “and thankfully there was no one else in the room, otherwise I don’t know what might have happened.”

Mr. Lin’s iPad was a 2015 iPad Air, and it’s not yet clear why it exploded. Lin has sent parts and photos of the damage to Apple, but hasn’t yet heard back.

Unfortunately for Apple, the true cause of the explosion might be irrelevant from a PR perspective. Whether or not Apple is really responsible, the story of an exploding iPad is not something Apple wants in the headlines, especially following on the heels of nearly a dozen similar stories about exploding iPhones in China over the past several months. After Samsung’s denial and hesitance to issue a Note 7 recall in China, Chinese consumers are wary, and looking for alternatives.

The most popular comments on Tencent Tech’s story about this latest explosion bear this out. A few commenters are curious about the holes visible in Lin’s photo of the iPad’s back case, but most commenters are bagging on Apple. The top comment:

Apple and Samsung are exploding, domestic phones are working fine, there hasn’t been a single incident like this with them. Perhaps in a few years the whole world will be using Chinese phones. You can’t keep fooling people forever…

And of course, these stories have also made Apple the butt of jokes like this one (Tencent’s second-most-popular comment):

I’ve got an iPhone in my left hand and a Samsung in my right hand; who dares oppose me? It’s really badass that you can use Samsung and Apple phones like hand grenades.