Apple iPhone 7 ‘explodes’ whilst charging up on woman’s bedside table

A young woman who bought a brand new iPhone 7 just four months ago has claimed the device exploded on her bedside table this week.

The woman, who gave her name as Yin, from Suqian City in East China’s Jiangsu Province, said she was charging her Matte Black iPhone 7 in her bedroom when she heard the explosion.

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The incident has chilling echoes of the recall of millions of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after several devices overheated and burst into flames. 

However, it is likely the iPhone exploded due to some specific problem with the particular device, charger or power supply.

Yin was quoted as saying: "My phone ran out of battery, so I left it to charge on my bedside table.

"I went out for a walk and heard the explosion when I came home. Then I realised it was my phone."

Judging by the photos Yin took, it appears the lithium-ion polymer battery inside her pricey device exploded, charring the entire phone.

She brought the phone - which is priced at 5,388 RMB (682 GBP) in China for a 32GB model - to an official Apple service station, where the staff confirmed that her iPhone was legitimate and had not been tampered with.

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It is therefore suspected that the phone’s charging port and perhaps also the charging cable may have contributed to the explosion, which thankfully caused no injuries.

Yin did not say whether she was charging the phone with Apple’s certified, in-box cable or whether she had connected it to a third-party charger.

Yin said she bought the iPhone just four months ago.