Apple Is Investigating Yet Another Exploding iPhone

Another iPhone that randomly caught fire is causing a headache for Apple, as video of the smoldering device quickly went viral earlier this week. Brianna Olivas of Tucson, Arizona posted video to Twitter of her iPhone 7 Plus, with plumes of smoke flowing from the phone’s edges. Her tweet ratcheted up quite a viral storm, garnering over 30,000 retweets since it first went live on Tuesday. As of Friday, it had been viewed over 1.26 million times.
 

Apple is ordering an investigation and claims the company has been in touch with Olivas, according to Mashable. The 18-year-old visited an Apple store a day prior to the incident, claiming that her phone was unable to turn on. After employees ran tests on the device, Olivas was told there was nothing wrong with her phone. Later that night, it started burning while she slept.

While surely annoying for Apple -- which has dealt with various models of the iPhone exploding in similar incidents -- the predicament is nowhere near what competitor Samsung faced with its Galaxy Note7 smartphone. The Note7’s lithium ion batteries were prone to exploding and eventually recalled from the market, dealing a huge financial blow in the process.

Curiously, many of Apple’s incendiary devices seem to catch fire while they’re charging, often while customers are sleeping and have little time to react. Understandably, Olivas has returned her phone to Apple. 

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Sam Blum is a News Staff Writer for Thrillist. He's also a martial arts and music nerd who appreciates a fine sandwich and cute dogs. Find his clips in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club and Vice. He's on Twitter @Blumnessmonster.