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Apple Blames 'External Forces' For Exploding iPhones
Shome writes "Apple has stated that there is no evidence that recent iPhone explosions reported by users are connected to overheating of batteries.
It may be stated that French consumer affairs authorities have started their own investigation on the reported explosions, some of which have caused minor injuries to the users, and are studying the phone's safety features.
The Inquirer runs a piece that blames Apple for blaming its customers. 'This mysterious force is not God, or a rival religion, nor does it require any metaphysics to understand. An "external force" is just Apple's term for the black shirted people who believe that everything that Apple makes is wonderful. It is what other companies call their "customers," writes Nick Farrell.'"
Some idiots SIT on their phones. And they expect a thin glass+electronics+thin metal/plastic shell to NOT break?
Come on.
check out the Macrumors forums. people bought iMacs a few years ago and LCD's started to go after the warranty expired. The Genius's called the customers crazy. Only reason Apple payed out money with the nvidia chipsets is because they got the money from nvidia.
there was a hard drive clicking issue with current MBP's and 7200rpm drives, including freeze ups. people took them to Apple stores and were told it was a feature.
Sometimes it is the customer's fault.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
Sure, it may be "external forces" like accidently dropped phones, high- or low humidities or temperatures, or what-not, but if the iPhone explosion rate is higher than competitive phones, you have to ask yourself why iPhones are so fragile.
Come on Apple, find the cause and unless it's customers deliberately abusing their phones, fix it.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
..because Apple doesnt have a track record for selling devices that explode. They certainly didn't recall 1.8 million iBook and POwerBook batteries in 2006. Definately not.
"His name was James Damore."
And I would like to blame the Inquirer for blaming Apple for blaming the customers.
Still plenty of blame to go around...
An "external force" is just Apple's term for the black shirted people who believe that everything that Apple makes is wonderful. It is what other companies call their 'customers'." writes Nick Farrell.'
No, an "external force" is an end user putting the device in an oven at 350 degrees, or driving a nail through the battery.
Both are actions that no manufacturer should be held responsible short of specifically stating one can do such a thing when you can't.
"External forces" do exist, no matter how much you hate one company or another.
While I wouldn't trust Apples own investigation into which end of the spectrum the problem lies, just because you hate Apple does not mean that other end of the spectrum does not exist.
I am not making any claims to which end of things the exploding batteries from Apple falls under. I would tend to suspect only a very small percentage of complaints are from end users abusing their products, and most likely the batteries actually are failing under normal use, but I have no more data to go on than anyone else.
But to claim that it is not physically possible for an end user to abuse their device, and state that 100% of all such failures can not be the cause of anything other than Apple, is just stupid and dishonest.
Of course this is an Apple story, so I will just sit back and wait for the Troll mods and accusations of 'blaming users' or 'defending Apple' or some other crap I haven't done...
a lack of faith on the part of the users. The eruption of flame is punishment repent, believe really hard and the phone will ressurect
Turns out the battery is susceptible to exposition to Reality Distortion Fields in excess of 750 milliJobs
There's an app for that! Seriously though, lithium polymer batteries *can't* explode since they have no metal canister to hold the outgassing pressure. They simply 'vent with flame'.
I think we can all agree that given the number of iPhones/iPods that are out there, somewhere, some moron said "Hey y'all, watch this!" before he poured gasoline on the phone and lit it on fire... Yes, we can agree on THAT as an "External Force."
However, in this instance, it seems that Apple is more than happy to classify these "External Forces" as normal phone usage! What's that? You talked on the phone for more than an hour? We are sorry, Apple cannot be held responsible for these external forces which are beyond our control.
"But, it's a phone!" you'll reply. What's that, you turned the device on? We are sorry, Apple cannot be held responsible for these external forces beyond our control.
Clearly, I am being sarcastic, but in all honesty, Apple could admit to some culpability in this instance... As other posters have mentioned, it's not like Apple was not already involved in a Recall of Batteries Used in Previous iBook and PowerBook Computers Due To Fire Hazard
Did I stress the part about FIRE HAZARD enough there?
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This just in ... Apple regrets that there was a typo in the original release ... It was meant to say that the explosions are caused by External Farces ... Film at 11
No, an "external force" is an end user putting the device in an oven at 350 degrees, or driving a nail through the battery
You'll find that "external force" is well defined by Apple, as: 'Applying non-Apple branded electricity to your battery'
This could easily be solved by having third party Apple-compatible electricity licenses with the properly branded Applectrons, but Steve Jobs is rumored to be against Apple clones.
Remember when Microsoft showed the Mojave experiment on TV ads? There's nothing wrong with Vista, there's just something wrong with you!
You don't blame your customers, even if they deserve it. You'll just look like a big corporate douche bag. Apologize and pretend to "resolve the issue", while doing nothing at all. (*cough* xp sp2 *cough*)
For apple products, when the mantra is "It just works" ... and the software is built on a very small number of in-house designed products, it shouldn't be the customer's fault.
Take windows (or linux) - if you can't get something to work correctly, or the wrong drivers/settings fry your hard drive from parking the head incorrectly (or whatever), then you can blame the customer. But when apple designs the product, from start to finish, it should very rarely be the customer's fault, especially when in normal usage.
Normal usage, you ask? In my world, normal usage means occasionally (very infrequently) leaving a laptop on inside a case, and expecting it *not* to fry because of poor thermal design. It also involves getting the occasional splash of liquid on my gadgets. And, you know, keeping my phone in my pants, where it will heat up if it isn't designed properly.
Normal usage is *not* exploding batteries, exceptionally short lived LCDs or GPUs that don't live long unless the fan is on full speed, all the time. And when these thing occur, I expect (and have always received) good support from my hardware vendor.
And no, I do not buy apple. Sure, they have great warranty service... if you buy the applecare. But I can get that sort of extended warranty from almost any vendor - The difference? Those vendors don't have retail locations like apple.
Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
If external forces were at work, the iPhones would be getting crushed. Come on, Apple, it's physics. (jklol)
Like Apple says, it's "External Forces". These iPhone users need to understand that using an iPhone when the external air pressure is not sufficient to match the pressure released from an overheating battery is crazy!
mr RIAA this is not me who copied 100GB of music
an external force made me do it
yes it exists, Steve Jobs has seen it !
with it, he can do weird things better than The Star Wars Force
he can make explosions
and even he can take money from people pocket to his own
i tell you mr RIAA this is real
The world belongs to those who get up early. - I'm far from being the king of Earth then
...for being a complete dick. Not everyone who owns an Apple product is a black-shirted zealot, and it's obnoxious to paint all of a company's customers with such a broad brush. Nick is just feeding the trolls by echoing the same stupid tropes that unoriginal people endlessly repeat in forums and comment sections all over the web.
A decent writer - editorial or otherwise - should discuss the merits and facts of the situation without bringing in useless and alienating invective. He may get a few yuks from the dumb crowd and incite a colorful flame war in the comment section, but he certainly won't gain any deep or lasting respect as a journalist. But I suppose this is just a temporary thing until he gets a job he actually cares about or finishes that sci-fi novel he's been working on.
Oh, now look, I'm doing it too. Dammit!
-- thinkyhead software and media
All glory to hypnosteve!
PCs have been specifically alterated to emit iPhone-exploding waves.
The good, the evil and the vacuum tubes.
The DHS thinks the iPhone is explosive material now, and banning it from planes. And for the DHS person who just emailed me about this story. It's a work of satire.
The fire-venting batteries are a feature, designed to injure people who have second thoughts about their overly-expensive, totally-under-featured apple products.
Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
Even the Inquirer mentions that the screen were cracked by "external forces".
Lesson: don't spaz out while while playing BubbleBopple or whateverthehell.
My initial reaction was that this might happen on jailbreak phones which are no longer properly controlling the CPU, or something else internal that is then overheating.
Poltergeists? Evil spirits? Conservatism? Liberalism? Antidisestablishmentarianism? Moral decay? Tooth decay? Communism? Trolls, kobolds or gnomes (Please pick one only).
Inquiring minds want to know!
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
If the responsibility truly was of EXTERNAL FORCES, then the phones wouldn't EXPLODE, they would IMPLODE.
Get your physics rights, Steve-o!
External Forces = The hand of Jobs.
The first article linked to was a tiny bit on the snarky side. As far as the first article was concerned, Apple is guilty, and people who buy Apple products are black turtleneck shirt wearing jerks. Plus, they smell bad.
From what I've seen from various reports, Apple iPhones are not exploding all over the place. There has been a few, but rare to the vast number of iPhones out there. The exploding battery problem is about the same rate as any other product that uses lithium batteries.
The cracking screens are also apparently rare compared to the number of iPhones. From the Apple report, none of the cracked screens caused they've investigated appear to be from the battery exploding as many reported. All batteries were in excellent condition. Further according to the report, the screens on the iPhones show damage due to point damage such as being dropped or having something like the tip of a key dig into the iPhone's screen. None of the screens appeared damaged in a wide area as you would expect if the phone started to warp due to excess heat or if an actual explosion happened.
A few people have stated that the screen exploded in their hands, but there was no outside confirmation of that. Apple felt that if any such incident of an iPhone screen cracking while in hand, it could be the result of a microscopic fracture suddenly increasing in size due to handling the iPhone itself.
However, this doesn't actually free Apple from the responsibility. Swirling razor sharp blades are also known to cut, but we don't allow manufactures to put them on products without some form of protection. Consumer phones are put into pockets, dropped, and stepped on. Putting a glass screen might not be such a great idea on a phone. Yes, it limits distortion and scratching, but it makes the screen more brittle too.
The question is whether a consumer should expect their phone screens to shatter in a manner that might injure them. For example, if you buy a fan, it has a cover to help keep your fingers away from the blades. Lamps are wired, so when they're turned off, there is no power running to the socket, so you can change the bulb without worrying about electrocuting yourself. Yes, we consumers should know to keep fingers away from fan blades and to unplug lamps or shut off the circuit breaker when changing bulbs. However, that didn't stop regulation requiring extra precaution.
At the same time, no one expects laptop manufacturers to seal their systems to prevent users from spilling drinks in them even though this is quite common. No one expects a car to be able to run if you ram it into a light-pole at 40 mph (another too common occurrence).
Does putting an iPhone in your pocket and finding that the glass has shattered constitute product abuse or does it constitute expected consumer behavior and the product should take that into account? Unless France's independent report shows another issue, this is what appears to be the real issue.
Do you have a case around your iPod/iPhone? Did you stick a nice logo or stickers or velum wrap around that makes your cool toy look like a radio? Do you wear a black t-shirt?
I noticed my iPod Touch was throwing it's pitches slower than normal. (Ok, the game was...) But that it also was warm. It wasn't like this in the winter! What was up? Well, I'm guessing here, but I bet my processor is overheating. So I pull off the super cool overlay I designed and paid $12 for. Yep... the pitcher works much better thank you.
Clue? Stop overheating your damn iPods/iPhones.
When something like this happened in the auto industry with the Ford Pinto, there were lawsuits, recalls, scandals, and the demise of the brand. The Ford Pinto would occasionally catch fire if hit from the rear by the "external force" of another vehicle. The gas tank could be pushed into the differential, causing a leak and explosion. There were only 27 such incidents, out of millions of Pintos built.
The situation is very similar. The iPhone has a lot of energy stored in a fragile container, and damage to that container can release the energy and cause a fire or explosion. Such devices must be engineered to fail in a safe way when damaged, just as cars are. (Cars very seldom blow up in collisions, despite what one sees in movies).
The computer and phone industries aren't used to being held to the safety standards of the auto industry. Legally, though, they have the same responsibilities. Apple is now finding that out.
Tag this one "flamebait" and it would apply in every sense of the word. ;)
It's fun reading the posts from all of the Apple apologists here.
Your product explodes - blame the customer. Great strategy. Apple fanboys will be delighted!
So, to all the apologists here, you'll be just hunky-dory the next time you're flying in a Boeing airliner, and one it's engines explodes, right? Boeing can just blame "external forces", and you'll be cool with that, right?
And if your iPhone explodes in your ear, tearing off your ear and that side of your face, it's you're own fault, right? I mean, it was probably due to the heat coming from your ear - the "external force", right?
Never blame Apple, they're pure and perfect, right?
Apple Blames 'External Forces' For Exploding iPhones
Gee, I thought that explosions are always caused by internal forces... almost by definition!
My bicyles
If it is exploding, it is obviously due to internal forces.
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Phones are meant to be carried around in pockets; "external forces" act on them as a matter of normal usage.
Two features that may make the iPhone susceptible to exploding are its thinness and its use of a non-removable battery. If you look at Nokia's 5800 touch screen phone, it's significantly thicker, but it can be carried around in a pocket without exploding.
I've had a dozen cell phones so far, and they have lived in bags, backpacks, and pockets. I've dropped them and sat on them. They've never broken or exploded. If the iPhone does, it's a design problem with the iPhone.
. . .shouldn't it be designed to detect that situation and shut off, or reduce power consumption (e.g. by slowing down the CPU or going into some sort of 'sleep mode', or implement some other strategy to avoid ever exploding or setting on fire?
Seems to me that prototypes of the new iGrenade were slipped onto the market by accident. Apple do like to ensure they get the publicity by announcing new stuff themselves after all. The iGrenade will allow the US military to seed the battlefield with attractive weapons the insurgents will want to pick up. Apple should sue. /sarcasm
I guess this is some additional work by Newton that I'm blanking on?
An unexploded object tends to remain unexploded unless acted upon by an external force.
Maybe I should have paid more attention in freshman physics...
those cellphones where manufactured in Al-Quaeda training camps in Pakistan.
At one end of a line is Nick Farrel. At the the other end is the "Happy Fun Ball" parody of warning labels. You catch my drift here, guv?
Eventually iPhones will have giant warning labels that will contain the line "Do not insert into nose" and "Not to be used as a marital aid."
Thermal runaway is a chemical reaction inside the battery itself. Once it starts, there's no way to shut it off electronically.
But, doesn't it require a threshold temperature to be reached before the reaction can even start?
What I'm saying is, let's say the Thermal Reaction can happen when the temperature exceeds T degrees. Then, shutdown the device when the internal temperature reaches some safe threshold, like .8T or .85T. Shutting down power consumption should cause the battery to start cooling off, assuming that the runaway reaction has not YET triggered, yes?
"... modern high-density batteries pack a heckuva lotta energy into a tiny package."
Such batteries should use fuses or circuit breakers. Circuit breakers prevent your house from burning when someone overloads the wall power.
with compatible butt shapes, correctly sized pockets and the proper protective covers over their bodies had no problem.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
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My Nokia fell into a bucket of water a year back. I am still using it.
People lie. Especially when the truth will cost them a couple of hundred. I've seen cracked LCD screens that 'just happened' and had nothing to do with leaving a set of keys on the keyboard while closing the lid. I've seen mould growing off a sticky brown-stained motherboard that smelled of coffee despite the user saying that they never spilled coffee on it. I've seen squashed iPods brought in for 'warranty' work because the end user didn't think that leaving the iPod in their jacket and then using the jacket for a goal post in a soccer match was any reason for concern.
People lie. And people don't like their insurance to way out when they can moan constantly and get a new machine for free.
I see no evidence that these 'explosions' occurred and I see plenty of evidence that people lie when they break their computers. Apple is politely saying "You broke it, you fix it" which is fair enough for any manufacturer.
Of course it's the customer's fault. If the device is untouched it will not break. It may eventual have a thermal failure or something like that, but that is just poor design and/or manufacture.
That being said.... the devices should be able to withstand extreme environments, like my pants or coat pocket without combustion.
Li-Po batteries do not explode
They can over heat expand and catch fire
There is no way someone could be texting while an iPhone overheats and breaks the screen without warning. While a battery failure could build up enough heat to damage the phone, the iPhone has several temperature sensors that would cause the phone itself to shutdown and stop working beforehand.
French people are dirty filthy liars. OK it might have made that one up just to piss people off.
. . .shouldn't it be designed to detect that situation and shut off, or reduce power consumption (e.g. by slowing down the CPU or going into some sort of 'sleep mode', or implement some other strategy to avoid ever exploding or setting on fire?
It should, and it does.
Guess I'll post this here too: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2101
An iPhone will shut down long before that point. The only way for its battery to fail that way is from internal damage to the battery or a failure of the batteries charging circuits while plugged in.
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Ever since I blew up that guy's head at the press conference its all "the scanner blew up your phone, the scanner blew up your engine, the scanner this, the scanner that".. enough!.. it only works on brains damnit! BRAAAINS!!!
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
It's AT&T that's causing these iPhones to blow up! Now maybe they can break that contract and get out from under AT&T's yoke of oppression!
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
Go work doing warranty computer repair for a while...You'll become a cynic too.
Go be a laptop user (consumer) for a while...You'll become a cynic too.
Let me preface by saying I use my laptops heavily but treat them well. Nice extra large well padded case. I don't do stupid things like overclock. I avoid knocking them or bashing them around. I keep them clean and dust free. So far here's my experience with a 3 year warranty on a Dell Inspiron 9400:
1) 2 hard drive replacements in the first year. I dual boot and the first time the Vista backup software of course did not work though I found a way to mount and restore using Virtual PC. Problem only went away when I insisted on a different brand hard drive despite slight performance decrease. (As I said I don't knock the laptop around and this problem hasn't been seen since changing brands despite no change in the way I'm treating the machine)
2) 2 screens replaced due to dust spots UNDER the LCD.
3) Hinge and screen covers replaced due to hinge breaking in normal use. The first time it was fixed the rubber pads on the screen cover that separate it from the keyboard when closed kept falling off, and hooks on the lid were sticking. 2 years and this had never happened. They sent more pads but problems continued. When they had to do the second screen replacement they couldn't remove the lid on site as one of the screws had been stripped, so it had to be sent in instead of being done on site. When it came back, it was covered in dust. I dusted off the machine and started using it and noticed extreme slowdowns after a few minutes 3D gaming. Turned out the CPU fan was jammed. Of course I had to work this out for myself, and unjam it myself by physically rotating it with power off. (Thank goodness I didn't need to call in the techs again!)
Of course none of the above went smoothly. Probably 30 emails (one where I sent pictures) and a couple of dozen hours on the phone including repeatedly arranging appointments - me or my wife taking the day off - to have work done but the Dell technician never shows up and they arrange another appointment which gets rescheduled ad infinitum. Record is 4 times. Oh and if you forget to check that something's been done when they call you can guarantee you have to send it back because they fixed a secondary issue they caused but did not fix the original problem (eg. fixed laptop cover but not dust spot).
Cheap laptop. Great when it works. WORST purchase I ever made. Biggest headache.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
To wit: "ce n'est pas mon faute, c'est la faute des autres." It's a bureaucratic passing of the buck a la française. [Not a bad rhyme, and sums up Apple's position, quite nicely]
typical of a computer company right out of the Microsoft play book. Somehow it is inevitably the stupid user's fault that the design is FLAWED and testing is WEAK. I'll bet the things aren't even UL listed.
What is Apple using for their solder joints these days? If they want to comply with a number of regulations the world over to remove lead from solder, it's probably tin. Unfortunately, tin solder has the nasty side effect of developing "tin whiskers" - microscopic threads that spontaneously grow off of tin solder joints, and no one seems to know why - all anyone knows is that when you put lead in solder, it doesn't do it. This has the obvious possibility of causing shorts as the whiskers contact other solder points; but there is also the possibility of spontaneous combustion. Tin whiskers have the possibility of becoming so small that they actual vaporize, leaving a super-conductive fine mist behind which has the possibility of causing an explosion. Therefore, if this is the cause, I would say Apple is justified in saying the explosions are caused by external forces, namely the government and the lobbyists that push for legislation like this. Sure, it looks good on the surface (less lead making it into ground water, etc.), but is the opportunity cost of this sort of havoc really worth it? I wholeheartedly have to say no.
I heart anarcho-capitalism.
the iphone is Steve God's er..I mn Jobs' gift to man. If it explodes it probably means the you are not worth it. Of course if it were some other device/OS (read Microsoft) having this problem we would have seen tonnes of witty quips and cheap shots from stickman Justin Long by now.