Following the mass recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, which turned out to be susceptible to explosions and fires, Apple may well have enjoyed a competitive advantage off the back of one of their main rivals as Samsung’s sales plummeted and costs to fix their mistake run in to the billions.
But it turns out that this may have been short lived, as reports are suggesting that an Apple iPhone 7 caught on fire in Australia recently.
Reports of the ‘exploding’ iPhone 7
Concerns for Apple have appeared as an Australian surfer reported that his iPhone 7 caused significant damage to his vehicle when his iPhone reportedly caught on fire, which he bought a week prior to the incident. He claimed he found the device melting in his pile of clothes.
Apple has launched a formal investigation into the matter. It’s not yet known whether there were contributing factors to the explosion of the iPhone, such as Australia’s climate, as one suggested example. However, it doesn’t take away the duty of care that is owed from Apple: i.e. to manufacture and sell mobile devices compliant with high safety standards that do not put customer’s lives in danger.
Possible causes
As we move into an ever-changing technological era, companies are competing to make the ‘best and newest gadgets’. If this is the case, it has potentially devastating consequences when things go wrong. For example, Apple, who manufactures the iPhone, releases a brand new model practically year on year. This may not give them enough time to develop the product or test the safety of the product, and they may end up missing vital signs of safety problems.
According to the LA Times, lithium batteries are “susceptible to fires in extreme conditions”, which is due to the chemical composition of the battery. The iPhone uses the lithium battery, which is, perhaps, a cause for concern
Samsung saga
Technology manufacturing companies should be wary and cautious of their devices as there are potential group action claims if enough of them cause injuries to individuals. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is living proof of that.
Since the explosions of the model, Samsung has issued a mass recall of around 1.9 million devices and has stopped the production of the device as well. Embarrassingly, a second batch of the Galaxy Note 7’s were recalled after they were exploding, which was after Samsung claimed they were safe.
Samsung are subject to investigations into whether they notified regulators about the potential dangers of the devices in a timely manner, and whether announcing their own recall prohibited regulators from investigating the cause of the alleged defect. I suspect that if there are further reports of the iPhone models exploding, Apple might be subject to the same investigations that Samsung are.
There is no doubt that recalling huge amounts of devices will likely cost the companies billions of pounds. As Apple is a leading company in the technology market, with over 1 billion iPhones being sold this year, a mass recall could seriously jeopardise its reputation as well as being very financially damaging.
Let’s hope there will be a stop to the pandemic of exploding and overheating mobile devices, as the potential injury damage to consumers is a great concern.