Don't look now, but iPhone 6 battery explosions have been reported in China

These battery stories just won't quit.
 By 
Brett Williams
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

While some iPhone 6S users have been frustrated by spontaneous battery shutdowns lately, there are others whose power struggles are a bit more explosive.

Reports from China claim that some iPhone 6 batteries have been pulling a Note 7 and bursting into flames.

The Shanghai Consumer Council (SHCC) filed a complaint against Apple on behalf of Chinese iPhone users who have experienced a range of issues with their devices, according to The International Business Times. Prominent among those problems: sudden spontaneous combustion.

The filing alleges that from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, there were eight complaints lodged in relation to incidents of iPhone 6 or 6S devices smoking and exploding. Due to the language used in the translation of the SHCC filing, it wasn't clear exactly how many devices were exploded and if there were multiple complaints associated with only a few incidents. Mashable's attempts to contact SHCC for confirmation of the actual number were not returned.

Along with the spontaneous combustion issues, the filing mentions ID theft and the aforementioned battery shutdowns as the main problems consumers have reported. There were 2,763 complaints against Apple in China from the year's start through Nov. 30.

After airing specific grievances, the SHCC requested three broad responses from Apple. It asked for Apple to take responsibility for the consumer, for the quality of its products and for its customer service practices.

When reached for comment by Mashable, an Apple rep acknowledged the filing and the existence of the reported "thermal incidents."

"We want to assure our customers that we thoroughly investigate any such report. We have been in touch with the customers and retrieved these units for analysis," the rep said.

But according to Apple, these incidents weren't just random explosions.

"As part of our standard process, we do a thorough forensic investigation including CT scans, cross sections, and more," the rep told Mashable. "The units we’ve analyzed so far have clearly shown that external physical damage happened to them which led to the thermal event. We treat safety as a top priority and have found no cause for concern with these products."

(This story was corrected to clarify the ambiguity of the language of the SHCC filing. Previously, it was reported that eight iPhone explosions had been alleged by the SHCC. A reference to a complaint concerning one of the alleged explosions was also removed for the same reason.)

Topics Apple iPhone

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Brett Williams

Brett Williams is a Tech Reporter at Mashable. He writes about tech news, trends and other tangentially related topics with a particular interest in wearables and exercise tech. Prior to Mashable, he wrote for Inked Magazine and Thrillist. Brett's work has also appeared on Fusion and AskMen, to name a few. You can follow Brett on Twitter @bdwilliams910.

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