It’s simple folks: Don’t sit on your phone. Or do, and end up like an Ohio man who claims his three-week-old iPhone XS Max exploded and set his rear ablaze.
The man, who only wishes to be known as J. Hillard, told iDrop News that he noticed a strange smell coming from his phone in his rear pants pocket, followed by heat, and a burning sensation on his skin. “Left no other option, I had to exit the room since there was a female in the break room with me and remove my pants,” Hillard told iDrop News. “I ran to the boardroom where I got my shoes and pants off as fast as possible. A VP of our company put the fire out with a fire extinguisher because he heard me yelling.”
While it’s fair to say “expensive smartphones shouldn’t explode,” you should also learn from Hillard’s example and not sit on your phone. These batteries are sensitive to overheating, your butt is warm, and sitting on them can exert pressure that isn’t good for the battery. Hillard isn’t even the first dude to deal with a phone exploding on his butt. There’s this student whose phone blew up during gym class, and this Seattle man. What did they all have in common? They’re men who put their phones in their rear pockets.
Which brings us to realization of the one thing women’s jeans are good for: You can stick a smartphone in a rear pocket AND not end up sitting on it. Women’s back jean pockets are situated so high up as to be on the lower back, rather than actual butt. Whereas men can boast ample front and rear pockets in their pants, women’s jeans generally only have two useful ones in the back. (The front ones are glorified denim mittens that you can only stick three fingers, knuckle deep in.)
And even if we wanted to, women can’t stick these increasingly ginormous phones in the front pocket. They’re so shallow, phones just slide out and clatter onto the floor anytime you sit. This handy visual by The Pudding shows just how only 40 percent of women’s front pockets can fit an iPhone X, while 100 percent of men’s front pockets can. The number falls to 20 percent for the Samsung Galaxy, and just 5 percent for the Google Pixel.
So really, this PSA is for men. Make use of your roomy front pockets. Stop putting phones in your rear pocket unless you want the VP of your company to extinguish your flaming butt. Or, you know, invest in this very fetching phone holster.