14 DAY TRIAL // Smartphones keep bursting into flames these days, and it’s now Motorola’s turn to join the fiasco with a Moto E3 Power whose blunder was caught on video.
Twitter user @technologers has posted a video showing his smartphone emitting smoke and melting after the battery overheated for no clear reason while charging. The owner says he used the original charger provided by Motorola.
As you can see in the photo here, the back of the phone was completely destroyed due to what’s very likely to be an explosion in the battery compartment, which in its turn triggered a fire that melted the plastic parts. The back cover is entirely wrecked and part of the battery is gone.
Paradoxically, Motorola launched the Moto E3 Power with a pretty large battery that features 3,500 mAh, saying at the time of the 2016 unveiling that its model achieved one of the best battery performance figures on the smartphone market.
“We’re investigating”
This time, the firm says that it’s just investigating the report, obviously playing the safe card and avoiding to share any details before it determines the cause of the fire.
“We are contacting the customer and investigating the situation. Motorola batteries are tested in our own labs, in addition to official certification which is performed at third party labs, consistent with industry practice. The internal testing provides an additional level beyond industry standards. Additionally, we work directly with our suppliers to ensure manufacturing testing, materials, and design consistently produce high quality batteries,” the company was quoted as saying by AndroidJunglee.
For the time being, this is just an isolated report and there are no signs of a possible widespread issue affecting more Motorola smartphones.
But as the typical recommendation goes, you better keep an eye on your smartphones while charging them, no matter if you’re using the original accessories or not.
