Apple Voluntarily Recalls Some Older Three-Prong Wall Plug Adapters Due to Risk of Electrical Shock

Apple today announced a voluntary recall of three-prong AC wall plug adapters designed for use primarily in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

ac wall plug apple
Apple states that, in very rare cases, affected Apple three-prong wall plug adapters may break and create a risk of electrical shock if touched. These wall plug adapters shipped with Mac and certain iOS devices between 2003 and 2010 and were also included in the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit.

Apple says it is aware of six incidents worldwide and asks customers to stop using affected plug adapters, citing customer safety as a "top priority." Apple will exchange affected wall plug adapters with a new adapter, free of charge.


Affected three-prong wall plug adapters are white, with no letters in the inside slot where it attaches to an Apple power adapter. New adapters are white with gray on the inside portion that attaches to the power adapter.

The recall does not affect any USB power adapters, like those included in the box with iPhones and iPads, according to Apple.

If you are impacted, read the recall program details and then head to Apple's Get Support page to initiate the exchange process.

In January 2016, Apple initiated a similar voluntary recall program for two-prong AC wall plug adapters designed for use in Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil due to the same risk of electrical shock if touched. These wall plug adapters shipped from 2003 to 2015.

Tag: Recall

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
85 months ago
Apple states that, in very rare cases, affected Apple three-prong wall plug adapters may break and create a risk of electrical shock if touched.
That is of course assuming you haven't impaled your foot on one of those bad boys first. Between these and LEGO, I'm beginning to think the uk has it out for feet.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cerberusss Avatar
85 months ago
I am a secret agent, and always carry a handful of these three-prong things. Whenever I am chased, I drop them on the ground because they make for terrific caltrops.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IRockThat828pScreen Avatar
85 months ago
Prepare for the Forbes article "Apple Admits Its Charging Bricks Have A Huge Problem"
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
displaced Avatar
85 months ago
So it’s technically safer, but how does that translate in to real world results? If it’s say twice as expensive and twice as wasteful (in terms of materials used) but results in say, less than 0.001% electrical related accidents is it worth it? What are the trade offs? Maybe it is, but the article only talks about how it’s technically safer, not real world numbers.
It was designed a long time ago. The primary purpose wasn’t to perform a cost/benefit analysis on deaths-by-electrocution and deaths-by-electrical fire versus cost.

Surely when designing a connector that will be in ubiquitous use throughout a nation, used millions of times per year by tens or hundreds of millions of people, it’s a good idea to make it as safe as possible?

If having a plug that costs a penny or two more to manufacture makes me and my property (and everyone else and their property) a fair bit safer, I’m cool with that.

Besides, the retail, non-trade, non-bulk, sales-tax-inclusive, including a fuse cost of one of our plugs is £0.99. Or a pack of 3 for £2.50.

(there’s a reasonably short list of British things I’m absolutely unequivocally proud of, and our mains plugs and sockets are on it )
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kebabselector Avatar
85 months ago
Interestingly the one shown as broken in the article looks like a new one (with no lettering).
Yes it is....


[doublepost=1556203377][/doublepost]
Guys, why are your plugs so needlessly large?
Ironically it's for safety - the plugs are fused and the larger earth pin pushes a slider in the socket allowing access to the live/neutral pins.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
whooleytoo Avatar
85 months ago
The three-prong plugs are also used in Ireland, though I'm sure anyone potentially affected by this issue in Ireland would already know that. :)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)