A CYCLIST IN Australia had to be hospitalised after his iPhone “exploded” and burned his leg when he fell on it.
British management consultant Gareth Clear was out cycling in Manly when he fell, landing on the phone.
“My elbow and my knee and then my right butt cheek hit the floor I guess simultaneously, and my phone was in my back pocket screen in – so case out, metal side out,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
He said that a few seconds later he saw smoke coming out of the back pocket. “I was completely bewildered as to what it was,” he said.
All of I sudden I felt a surge of pain in my top right leg, which was the iPhone. I heard a snap… I could see it melting through my shorts.
He also burned his fingers while touching the phone, and managed to bang the phone out of his shorts.
Clear said that the phone contorted and “battery goo” came out of the phone, which was also searing hot.
After Clear shared the photo on Twitter, Apple contacted him to say “this looks serious”, he said. The company asked him to get in touch with them so they could speak with him about what happened.
Clear, who is still in hospital, said that he is “still in pain” after the incident. He had to get skin grafts due to his injuries.
He also outlined his fears around incidents like this with iPhones, saying:
“The more pervasive these are in our lives and more people use them with a lack of apprehension that something could go wrong, the more these things will happen.”
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