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Chinese State Media Report Bloated Battery in Apple's iPhone 8 (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the beware dept.

A fresh case of Apple's new iPhone popping open due to a swollen battery has been reported in state media in China, the world's biggest smartphone market where the U.S. firm is seeking to revive faltering sales. From a report: The incident comes as Apple investigates similar cases reported in Taiwan and Japan of batteries in its latest iPhone 8 Plus becoming bloated, causing the device's casing to open. On its website on Thursday, China's state-backed ThePaper.cn cited an iPhone buyer surnamed Liu as saying his newly purchased iPhone 8 Plus arrived cracked open on Oct. 5. There was no sign of scorching or an explosion. Liu told ThePaper he bought the handset through online marketplace of JD.com. He said he did not charge the new device and returned it to the seller. The fresh reports comes on the heels of another story last week where Apple claimed that it was looking into a similar matter.

36 comments

  1. Time to pass a law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Require all phones to have batteries that are removable and can be replaced by the user. Include a requirement for headphone Jacks in the law, too. Problem solved.

    1. Re:Time to pass a law by jtara · · Score: 1

      Removable batteries doesn't solve the problem. It allows you to replace the battery more easily, IF it hasn't done a great deal of damage. And removable batteries don't prevent the battery from burning a hole in your pants.

      I've had two minor battery incidents. A bulging 3rd-party battery in a Macbook. (I've sworn-off 3rd party batteries - except you can't get Apple branded ones for my ancient Macbook...) And an ARDrone battery that apparently popped in the charger and left a little scorch mark on the wall. Both were removable.

    2. Re:Time to pass a law by Tailhook · · Score: 1

      Require all phones to have batteries that are removable

      No, because then fly-by-night third parties will make cheap knock-off batteries and chucklehead device owners will buy them and they'll burst into flames etc. etc. We've already been through all this. OEMs can barely manufacture these batteries safely re Samsung.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    3. Re:Time to pass a law by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Removable batteries tend to have a thicker, more durable casing. You sacrifice a bit of capacity but gain a ton in convenience, serviceability, durability (and yes, safety).

    4. Re:Time to pass a law by Exrasser · · Score: 1

      All my phones has a removable battery, a FM radio, a microSD slot and of course headphone jack. And for god measure I've put Wikipedia/Books/Movies/Music for offline use on them. Price 120£ and a 32GB SD cards. Non have a google account, apps ripped from play and installed from SDcard. Is that not what everybody does on a site like this.

      Ok there are many laws put in place to protect the weak, so maybe it should be law.

    5. Re:Time to pass a law by dgatwood · · Score: 3, Informative

      Removable batteries doesn't solve the problem. It allows you to replace the battery more easily, IF it hasn't done a great deal of damage. And removable batteries don't prevent the battery from burning a hole in your pants.

      Actually, part of the nature of a removable battery design is that the back has to be readily removable, which means unless it is designed badly, an expanding battery will not cause permanent damage. Rather, it would push the battery cover off, allowing the battery to expand safely. Upon seeing that, you'd just have to pull the battery out, replace it, and snap the cover back on. No big deal.

      Also, one big cause of fires is compression of the battery, which can happen as a side effect of the battery expanding in the wrong way within an enclosed space. So because of that inherent safety valve (the battery cover), a removable battery design should be much less prone to catching fire as well.

      This, of course, ignores the added risk of third-party removable batteries, but that's orthogonal.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    6. Re:Time to pass a law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can also reset/disable a device at your choosing, not what big brother wants.

      captcha: feature

    7. Re:Time to pass a law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the contrary, many companies like to be able to tell customers to just remove the battery to solve all the problems - rather than make a quality phone.

    8. Re: Time to pass a law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod parent up. Tho I'm unsure as insightful or funny ....

  2. Ruh-roh... by TheZeitgeist · · Score: 2

    For Samsung the number was sinful 7. For Apple it will be hateful 8.

    1. Re:Ruh-roh... by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      For Samsung the number was sinful 7. For Apple it will be hateful 8.

      But Apple forgot to copy Samsung's "exploding" feature. You end up with a phone split in two, not a phone split in two and setting fires to houses, cars, etc.

      Typical Apple copying everything but the important bits.

      (Yes, that is sarcasm).

  3. Fuck's Sake by clonehappy · · Score: 1

    Somebody allegedly buys a defective iPhone from a shady "online marketplace" and it's suddenly Stuff that Matters? Give me a break.

    Let me know when a legitimate news source finds one exploding that was sourced directly from Apple.

    1. Re:Fuck's Sake by HiThere · · Score: 1

      While the source seems dubious, and certainly the news site would be quite willing to diss Apple, there was the tag at the end about Apple investigating an earlier report of the same variety.

      So I'd be willing to keep an open mind on this topic.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    2. Re:Fuck's Sake by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      JD.com is a major retailer in China. It's similar to buying from Amazon in the west. Some people prefer it because they have loyalty points, free shipping, credit etc. You can't read anything into it having been bought from there.

      Also, this isn't the first case of this happening, and earlier instances (linked in the summary) include a guy from Japan who did buy direct from Apple.

      If there is any issue here it's that we don't have enough data to really know if this is just the usual level of battery failure that all manufacturers experience or particularly bad.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Fuck's Sake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, welcome to msmash the editor who only uses dubious Chinese sources to create another Apple freakout.

      Slashdot has gotten so much worse over the years but the failure is a long slide. How long until it's gone.

    4. Re:Fuck's Sake by lucm · · Score: 1

      the editor who only uses dubious Chinese sources to create another Apple freakout.

      you mean the fanbois who accuse Chinese sources of being dubious because they can't accept that Apple is selling defective devices?

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    5. Re:Fuck's Sake by jon3k · · Score: 1

      What's interesting to me is that it's clearly China's attempt to spread FUD regarding US based tech products.

  4. Apple Watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    does this too. After the battery bloats the screen pops up off its adhesive. You can replace the adhesive but it will just pop again without a new battery.

  5. "State Run Media" by DatbeDank · · Score: 1

    Sorry, this cracks me up each time I see this. Yet the BBC doesn't get the same treatment.

    Made possible by Royal decree and is funded by forced taxes. Honest question, why doesn't the BBC doesn't qualify as "state run media" ?

    1. Re:"State Run Media" by starless · · Score: 1

      Sorry, this cracks me up each time I see this. Yet the BBC doesn't get the same treatment.

      Made possible by Royal decree and is funded by forced taxes. Honest question, why doesn't the BBC doesn't qualify as "state run media" ?

      Although arguments can be made either way here, the way to determine this is to look at the
      actual coverage of the government in power.
      For example, look at this recent article on May's disastrous speech:
      http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-pol...
      which concludes with:
      "The conference was meant to be about restoring Theresa May's authority. It may prove instead to have been further undermined."

    2. Re:"State Run Media" by jaa101 · · Score: 1

      The UK government has passed the laws that enable the BBC to be funded, but it's a separate tax: the money doesn't come from the government's budget. There's also a great degree of transparency as to how the BBC board is selected and how they run the BBC independently of the government. The independence is not perfect or absolute but the BBC does a pretty good job of holding the government, and the opposition, to account. Of course the BBC is run by the British so, while it might not have a pro-government bias, it can at least be pro-British at times.

      In comparison, the Xinhua news agency in China is explicitly run directly by the government. When editors or journalists don't toe the official government line they are quickly replaced.

    3. Re:"State Run Media" by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      Honest question, why doesn't the BBC doesn't qualify as "state run media" ?

      Because "run" also refers to editorial control?

      PBS is funded by forced, if indirect, taxes. Does PBS qualify as "state run media"? The answer is no. Because despite DJT's and TM's opinions concerning the news, politicians have almost no control over what those institutions publish - baying "state secrets" doesn't get one very far.

    4. Re: "State Run Media" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Theresa May ain't shit. She, like Trudeau, Turnbull, are vassals.

  6. China's state media looking for cause. by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    They must have made sure the batteries were not made in China before airing their report.

  7. Ask Ash-Fox about his NDA lie rotflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ask Ash-Fox about his NDA lie + dns fuckups rotflmao https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11188265&cid=55322595/ as he's a no degree liar.

  8. It's a feature, not a problem. by taskforceken · · Score: 0

    Maybe this is by design?
    The bloat warns you of a bad battery.
    Perhaps the bloating is a "safety", a breakpoint before the battery begins to smolder or explode.

  9. BLM (battery lives matter) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Set them free and unleash the true power of the collective Apple core.

  10. Phone models? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    What phones?

    1. Re: Phone models? by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      Possibly a Blackberry Z10? It would fit the post.

  11. iPophone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, one more to add to the well established Crapple and Macintrash.

    I'm sure there's a lot more.

  12. Re:Ask Ash-Fox about his NDA lie rotflmao by lucm · · Score: 1

    Piss off apk. Or at least keep stop cross-polluting Slashdot with your pathetic little flame wars.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  13. There we go by lucm · · Score: 1

    More proof that Apple products are bloated

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  14. Origin by spinitch · · Score: 1

    Environment can cause phone batteries to swell. From experience, older used iPhones inspected then shipped by air have arrived with a small percentage swollen. This is a new device which should not swell. Since a hot commodity-New expensive even if gray, procured far away and shipped unlikely to have sat in a very damp environment for long, which is what sometimes happens to old used devices shipped in bulk which donâ(TM)t need to be sold so quick and increases swells with the changing air pressures in cargo flights. I didnâ(TM)t check on if any differences in 8 batteries vs 7 maybe new supplier or spec change?

    1. Re: Origin by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      An IP67 phone not dying by completely being submerged in water, but a little water in the air does? Fuck that design.