Apple is investigating reports iPhone 8 Plus devices bursting open

Apple fans finally have their hands on the iPhone 8, but two owners in Asia have already busted their new phones under strange circumstances.

An iPhone 8 Plus owner in Taiwan says that her five-day-old 64GB device split open while charging, according to The Next Web. The owner claims she was using the official Apple charging cord, and after about three minutes, the phone started swelling, and she pulled it off the charger.

Another iPhone 8 Plus owner in Japan also claims his phone started splitting open. The weird thing about his story is that he didn't even have an opportunity to charge his new device. He claims that his phone's screen was bursting open from the second he unboxed it.

The most likely culprit for these screen issues is battery swelling, but there are currently no definite answers from the reported incidents or from Apple.

Twitter user Magokoro0511 shared multiple images of the alleged iPhone screen issue, including a few photos with it still in the box.

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The first busted iPhone has reportedly been returned to Apple for investigation, and an Apple rep confirmed to Mashable that the company is looking into the incidents. The company, however, is not commenting on either of the incidents.

So far, these are the only two cases that have surfaced online, so the bursting front panels don't appear to be a widespread issue. Importantly, there were no reports of explosions, so it's safe to say, at least for now, that this won't turn out like Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 last year.

The truth is many phone launches have at least a few hardware problems. Last year, for example, multiple reports of exploding iPhone 7 handsets emerged, but there were no widespread issues that jeopardized the integrity of the entire production line. In most cases, an isolated manufacturing flaw or user error such as improper charging, is the reason for the issue.

If pics of more bulging iPhone 8 screens start filling your Twitter timeline, there might be a cause for alarm. But for now, this appears to be a case of two people who got unlucky and received a malfunctioning or broken device.