Users are trying to forcefully remove the battery

Apr 18, 2015 09:22 GMT  ·  By

T-Mobile was selling not so long ago a ZTE phablet called the ZMAX. Until the carrier abruptly pulled the phone off its shelves along with any point of sale promotional material, that is.

The phone had been launched under the T-Mobile banner only seven months ago, so what happened?

According to TmoNews, who dug up an internal memo sent to T-Mobile and the carrier’s subsidiary MetroPCS, store employees are instructed to remove all ZTE ZMAX units and place them inside the store’s safe “until further notice.”

Did something go terribly wrong with the phones? Apparently not. According to an inside source with ZTE, T-Mobile was forced to halt sales of the phone because customers were prying open the back of the unit in an attempt to pull out the non-removable battery.

ZTE ZMAX has a non-removable battery, yet one that can be easily accessed

As it turns out, the back can easily be taken off since no glue is employed to keep it stuck together. So to get to the battery, customers only have to remove the clips.

T-Mobile was not happy about that and actually complained to the Chinese manufacturer, highlighting the ease with which users could be gaining access to the 3,400 mAh battery inside the phone, which shouldn’t be removable.

Apparently, a customer used a knife and a small screwdriver to lever off the back panel, thus potentially puncturing the battery cell and hurting themselves in the process.

At the moment, it’s pretty unclear why customers are doing this. Maybe removing a battery that’s not supposed to be removed provides some sort of thrill. Or maybe they want to perform a hard factory reset?

Nevertheless, in the eventuality that the phone is not operating like it should, ZTE strongly suggests that customers take the phone to a T-Mobile store and ask for guidance there, rather than try to take matters into their own hands.

Now ZTE is trying to figure out what to do and how to make the battery less easy to access. Although it’s a bit late now.

The ZTE ZMAX is a 5.7-inch phone arriving with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution and 258ppi. It draws life from a Snapdragon 400 processor working in concert with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. So it’s a pretty mid-range affair.

T-Mobile halts sales of ZTE ZMAX (3 Images)

ZTE ZMAX gets pulled from sale by T-Mobile
ZTE ZMAX is a phabletCustomers trying to remove battery from the ZTE ZMAX
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