New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

Apple Investigating Two Possible iPhone 8 Plus Battery Failures

Sunday October 1, 2017 12:46 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is investigating after two iPhone 8 Plus owners shared pictures of the device burst open due to possible battery failure.

iPhone 8 Plus burst open due to possible battery failure via iFeng

"We are aware and are looking into it," an Apple spokeswoman confirmed to MacRumors.

The first customer is reportedly a Taiwanese woman, who said her iPhone 8 Plus burst open despite charging with an official Apple power adapter. Chinese media sites reported that the device has been returned to Apple, as part of its routine investigation of these isolated incidents every year.

A second customer from Japan shared a picture of an iPhone 8 Plus with the display assembly detached from the device's aluminum enclosure.

In both cases, it appears that the battery may have swelled due to gases inside. The expansion then placed too much pressure on the display, causing it to pop open, which may actually help avoid a fire.

No Need to Worry


With millions of iPhones coming off of Apple's production lines every time new models launch, it's common for a few to have battery failures.

It's simply an inevitability with lithium-ion batteries.

It happened with some iPhone 7 models, and it'll probably happen with iPhone X and whichever models come after.

It's only when reports of battery failure become a larger trend, as Samsung learned the hard way after dozens of Galaxy Note 7 devices caught fire last year, that it truly becomes a problem.

Update: A third iPhone 8 battery failure is being reported in Hong Kong.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8
Buyer's Guide: iPhone 8 (Caution)
[ 176 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
mytawalbeh
9 months ago
Samsung users would be like we had this feature for more than a year.
Rating: 135 Votes
Avatar
RCS31
9 months ago
It's so surprising that this still makes the headlines every year. It's not like they're actually exploding in masses like some others have done in the past...
Rating: 30 Votes
Avatar
robjulo
9 months ago
“NO NEED TO WORRY” in big bold letters. Who are you guys? Apple’s PR department?
Rating: 16 Votes
Avatar
alex00100
9 months ago
This will be on first page on every website by tomorrow morning, mark my words.
Rating: 15 Votes
Avatar
macTW
9 months ago

Will apple have a note 7-2017?

Yes. 2 phones out of the 10+ millions shipped.

Non-issue - gate
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
4jasontv
9 months ago
Oh, so that's how you open the battery door.
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
thisisnotmyname
9 months ago
Everybody panic! Non-issue if two devices had batteries swell and no fires or explosions.
Rating: 13 Votes
Avatar
L-Viz
9 months ago
Cool, it just pops open.

iFixit repairability score 10/10.
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
citivolus
9 months ago

Number one, Macrumors didn't caps lock it like your post is indicating. . Number two, they're just simply reporting what is being discussed across the Internet, they don't want to insinuate any facts until Apple corroborates anything.

No I disagree. I read this article and also thought the Apple bias was strong with this one. Why can't they simply report the story without inserting opinion? If Apple did a press release saying "Don't worry", then Macrumors can report that too. But no need to insert their view into the story.
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
flat five
9 months ago



Hopefully there won’t be hysteria over this, apple’s doing the right thing by conducting their own tests ... was this ever a problem with previous launches? It might otherwise be that sitting on suppliers to reduce battery unit prices has caught out both Samsung (majorly) and Apple (less severely)


iPhone6:


(there are photos online of the other models as well)


------
happens to the laptops too..
it's always happened.. never widespread.

so far, appears like it won't be a widespread issue with the latest releases either.



Rating: 9 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]