14 DAY TRIAL // Lithium-ion batteries in smartphones and other devices are prone to overheating and catching fire, and out of millions of phones that a company produces, some are bound to explode. A woman from Palm Harbor, Florida, woke up in the middle of the night only to find her iPhone 6 Plus sizzling and up in flames.
Amanda Bentz’s iPhone 6 Plus was charging on her nightstand when it suddenly caught fire early Tuesday morning, according to WFLA. The bright flames and the sizzling sound woke her up. “My face was so close to the phone that when it immediately went up in flames, it woke me up. I’m luckily a light sleeper.”
“It literally blew flames right out the side of the phone.” The burning phone damaged her nightstand and left black soot marks. It also lightly burned her pillow case, comforter and even the curtains. Amada said that had it not been for her husband Kyle who quickly put out the fire, the curtain would have caught fire.
Another similar incident involved the same iPhone model
Surprisingly, one of her neighbors, called Greg Miceli, went through a similar experience with an iPhone 6 Plus when the device suddenly started expanding and cracking the screen, making the phone useless. Prior to the incident, the iPhone 6 Plus was sitting next to his bed, not connected to a power outlet.
Apple contacted Amanda Bentz and stated that it would investigate the issue and offer a replacement model. The Cupertino company intends to put a $749 hold on her credit card, which will be lifted only after she ships the burned phone back.
There have been many incidents of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus catching fire, and they don’t always occur when the phones are charging. Apple didn’t issue a product recall, but preferred to handle each incident individually.
Faulty batteries led to the biggest smartphone recall in tech history, when Samsung recalled millions of Galaxy Note 7 phones and launched an investigation that took months to complete. As a result, quality assurance procedures were tightened and even the CPSC is considering stricter industry standards.