iPhires: has your iPhone got hot?

Halloween Jack

#1 – 9:13 AM March 4, 2009

No.

Rob Beschizza

#2 – 9:26 AM March 4, 2009

It's not convincing, is it?

michaelportent

#3 – 9:52 AM March 4, 2009

If the icon on the plug wasn't almost certainly warp-filtered with a satin overlay in Photoshop, I'd be a little frightened by this.

kaosmonkey

#4 – 10:05 AM March 4, 2009

Isn't this the reason they recalled all the chargers a few months ago?

(searching)

nope, that was because the prongs were breaking off in the outlets. This is a new one.

salsaman

#5 – 10:17 AM March 4, 2009

It's a hoax-- story doesn't add up. Burned connector, but no signs of charring, burning or melting on the iPhone itself. Clean chrome edging, no fire extinguisher mess... this photo makes no sense; was it found like this, or on fire?

technogeek

#6 – 10:44 AM March 4, 2009

Looks like all that's burned is the connector. Perhaps the owner tossed the charger cable into a pile of something conductive that shorted it out and generated a lot of heat in the process...

I agree that the photo doesn't particularly suggest that it was found this way, or that the phone itself had anything to do with the meltdown. Possible but seems unlikely.

dculberson

#7 – 10:44 AM March 4, 2009

I'm not so sure it's fake.

Full story here:

http://www.aromanthought.com/2009/03/iphone-on-fire.html

MichaelPortent, what makes you so certain? The pixels?

KurtMac

#8 – 11:30 AM March 4, 2009

Crispy! I'll go ahead and blame the Non-Apple-Certified adhesive screen protector for inhibiting the iPhone's ability to dissipate heat during a charge. Or at least that what I'd expect Apple to claim. Its out of warranty, so he's boned either way.

Anonymous Anonymous

#9 – 12:03 PM March 4, 2009

Stop!
/squints, holds index fingers to temples/
Somewhere, an iPhone is burning!

bardfinn

#10 – 12:21 PM March 4, 2009

Anonymous @ #9:

Man, I do not have time for this. I have a /real career/ to study for.

zachary

#11 – 7:34 AM March 5, 2009

This doesn't strike me as impossible with any phone.

My Motorola phone wasn't charging anymore because the charging connector was shorted and all of the electricity was dissipating as heat in to the connector/case. It was getting very hot. I could imagine that eventually it might burn.

I think that since charging connectors are so tiny on most phones, what is to stop the pins from shorting if the phone is abused?

Maybe a fire isn't plausible... but heat certainly is.

Mythbusters?