14 DAY TRIAL // The new iPhone 7 has caused a pregnant woman in Australia second-degree burns on her right arm after falling asleep with the phone in her bed.
Melanie Tan Pelaez explains that she was using the iPhone 7 to watch movies in her bed while the device was plugged into a charger, but she fell asleep and didn’t get to disconnect the phone or put it on the nightstand.
When she woke up in the morning, Pelaez noticed that her arm was red and felt pins and needles due to what seemed to be a superficial burn. She went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a burn on the upper arm due to a foreign object, in her case the iPhone.
“The hospital did a number of tests and told me the mark was a burn from a foreign object and told me to check around my bed to see what could be the cause of the injury,” she told news.com.au.
The woman told the doctors that the only object in her bed was the iPhone 7, which she was using before falling asleep, and the markings on her arm matched the phone and the charger.
Hospital documents confirm that the iPhone 7 was indeed at fault for the burns. “Patient representing for review of superficial thickness burn on right forearm. Burn sustained when patient slept on her mobile telephone - iPhone 7. Haemodynamically stable and afebrile,” the papers read.
Apple only offered a new iPhone 7
Pelaez explains that after leaving the hospital, she went straight for the Apple Store to report the incident and have her iPhone checked.
“Apple took my phone and details but said it couldn’t have been the phone because it didn’t have a distinct smell. I then got a call from a member of the executive team who told me they were now handing the matter and had sent the phone to a senior technician in California for testing,” she explains.
The pregnant woman also took to Facebook to report the incident, adding that Apple only offered her a new iPhone 7 because they thought the device was not at fault.
“Apple seems to think the phone isn’t to blame as it is designed to shut down, but my injury shows this isn’t the case. I’m just lucky because it could have been a lot worse,” she said.
Pelaez refused to get a new iPhone from Apple, explaining that she doesn’t trust the device anymore, but it’s not yet known if she wants to pursue legal action or not. Apple has not issued a comment, and chances are it’ll never provide one given the fact that Cupertino handles these cases without disclosing a single detail of the investigation.
Facebook post backfiring quickly
The simple fact that the woman posted the incident on Facebook backfired quite quickly, with many users accusing her of trying to damage Apple’s image.
There are also users who seem to believe that she is actually “working for Samsung,” while others blame her for sleeping with the phone in bed, especially when charging.
“If you cover a device with your body heat and no air circulation to cool it, it will heat up. Press a hot device next to your skin... see what happens,” one Facebook user explains.
If you do decide to check out her Facebook post (linked above), be warned that comments also include bad language.