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Malfunctioning iPhone 4.0 Burns User, USB Charging Cord | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
In a bit of news from the "don't touch it" department, Boy Genius Report… reports… that a user's iPhone 4 caught fire during the connection/recharging process, resulting in slight burns to the person's hand.
How the heck did this happen? Apparently, said user brought a malfunctioning iPhone 4 into an AT&T store in the hopes that he or she could exchange it for a working model. The allegedly "brand-new" iPhone 4 got strapped into a common computer with the USB cord that was shipped with the device. And then it burst into flames, reports a source at AT&T.
According to an equally anonymous Apple Store contact, the phone's USB port was apparently to blame for the pyrotechnic display. The USB port itself suffered minor damage in the incident while the cord itself, as shown below, was thoroughly torched.
This isn't the first time that an iPhone has gotten hotter than expected as a result of its USB-based connection to a system. Back in March 2009, blogger Tim Colbourne out of Rome, Italy plugged his iPhone 3G into his computer's USB port for a quick bit of recharging. A few hours later, this was the result he came back to.
For what it's worth, even Colbourne himself has trouble finding reports of similar iPhone-based flame-ups. Gizmodo ran a story back in July 2009 about an iPhone 3G allegedly burning a crater-sized hole in someone's car seat, but the accuracy of the photo in question remains suspect—many claim it's the work of creative Photoshopping, nothing more.
Given that the aforementioned iPhone 4's bezel allegedly got extremely hot to the touch during the whole process, it stands that an unnaturally hot casing might be an excellent warning sign of an impending problem during the charging process. Try not to burn your fingers… or your thigh.
Malfunctioning iPhone 4.0 Burns User, USB Charging Cord
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