The battery in my old iPhone (out of warranty) has just decided to explode, pop the screen off and bend the main board. Is Apple doing anything to correct this issue? I wasn't using it for a phone, rather an ipod around the house, but still it shouldn't just fall apart like that!
iPhone 3GS, iOS 5.0.1
I got my old 3GS replaced at an Apple Store yesterday for $80 - it was out of warranty but they said they would replace it as a battery problem. This was the second Apple Store I went to - the first tried to sell me a new battery for $150. I found an authorized Apple repair shop and they told me to go ASAP to Apple (and go to a store that wasn't as busy as the one I went to) and they should offer to replace for $50 - $100, confirming that the battery was swelling and it could explode or at least leak and damage the board. The second Apple Store was great - I did not have to throw a hissy-fit to get them to replace, just dropped a few key words like product defect; the Genius at the first store just wanted to get rid of me.
I noticed the problem when I was finally getting ready to sell the phone. I got a new iphone 5 in Nov. and had sold the phone after taking photographs of the phone in mid Jan. No bulging back and screen was clear and bright. I did notice that the phone was not holding a charge very well. Sold the phone about 10 days later and while getting it ready I noticed a dark spot on the screen, below the glass. when I pressed on the area, the spot moved. got an appt at Apple that afternoon and the Genius told me that the battery was swelling and pushing upwards and that's what caused the darkening. he opened the phone and apparently relieved some of the pressure but there was still a spot. obviously I could not sell with a known change so I checked around and found the place to replace the battery. in the 5 days between noticing the dark area and then going to get a new battery, the case started bulging. this was shocking as I was not charging or using the phone.
Took a while to find any info on battery swelling on Apple website (only here). Google 3GS battery swelling and the photos are grim - this is NOT unique problem. If your phone gets warm and the battery does not hold a charge, run, do not walk, to get the battery replaced.
this happened to my phone too. i had my phone sitting in my desk while i was away in mexico, this was my primary phone. anyway, when i returned to activate my phone the phone was so bulged out that the screen had lifted quite a bit, and there are stress cracks all along the back edge. this is a 3gs and was always well treated, never dropped nor had any sort of water damage. bye bye apple, hello samsung, et al.
teklife wrote:
bye bye apple, hello samsung, et al.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire - literally:
Samsung cell phone battery explodes in man's pocket
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Samsung Phone Explodes in Face - FoneArena.com - Mobile ...
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There are no reports of iPhones exploding or starting fires, only expanding. While there seem to be a rash of Samsung explosions and fires.
well, many of those exploding phone cases are from counterfeit replacement batteries, but it's not even just that; apple still makes some of the nicest hardware with the best build quality, but the os nowadays is nothing compared to what's on android. i drool over my girlfriend's galaxy note and love using it, that's why i say hello samsung, et al. i really enjoy the experience using android over old and boring ios.
i'm sad that my perfectly good phone is ruined through no fault of my own, costing me money, and that apple will most likely not give a ****, but at the same time i'm excited to move on to android which is much more awesome IMO than ios.
I first went in for my defected sleep button, then out the blue they said my water indictors went off. My iPhone 5 was good until they went in the back to open. Then he say, it was like soda. One thing i dont drink soda's and im the only person that have my phone.The only thing I do is workout and put in my armband which phone always gotten hot.A few days later my phone started to shut off by itself, then the my phone started to expand. Went back to the apple store and the lady said it was my battery starting to expand.
I love apple but this was some b.s
I WAS I THE APPLE STORE IN THE BEVERLY CENTER IN LOS ANGELES TODAY . MY PHONE IS DESTROIT . THE BATTERY IS ABOUT TO EXPLOSE .
THEY ASK ME $149 BECAUSE THE PHONE IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY ANY MORE .
I WAS EXPECTING SOME EXCUSE FOR THE PROBLEM .
3 GENUIS AND ONE MANAGER SPOKE TO ME LIKE I WAS A IDIOT !!!
I AM 51 YEARS OLD AND REALLY REALLY MAD ON THE WAY I WAS TREATED TODAY . ITS A SHAME . IF YOU DONT CALL THAT A FACTORY DEFECT !!!!!!!
Well, add me to the club. Went to get my old iPhone 3GS out of the drawer today (where it had been put away several months ago, charged but turned off) to find that the thing had exploded. And by exploded I mean pushed apart at the seams from the inside. Am really, really, really glad that it didn't burn my house down and kill everyone. Shame on Apple for not recalling this phone.
Lawrence, I will take it to the local Apple Store, just because they need to know, but as a longtime Apple user I am far too familiar with their usual excuses. This is why I no longer buy AppleCare for my computers--why waste the money when I know they won't honor the warranty?
carl wolf, are you kidding me??? "batteries expand"?? No, no they don't... not in well built product. I do not intend to get it repaired--it was no longer being used. That said, I don't expect Apple to sell me a product that clearly had some kind of heat and pressure reaction going on in it and risk my family. The things should be recalled.
Lawrence, I'll certainly try to read up about this phenomenon, and thanks. But here's my problem: in a house full of electronics, many of which use lithium batteries, nothing else has ever expanded/exploded.
This has happened to 3 of my iPhone 3GS they all exploded and what the Genius Bar in Trafford centre uk is saying it's my fault that I left it on charge hang on my phones were left on the side as I had gone on holiday what if it happened whilst it was in my hand the price they quoted was £190 for each phone and the cheek the manager had was to say take it to a local repair shop and get it fixed on the cheap I don't have time for repairs on phones Luke this when they want your money they're all over you but when you complain that I have all these phones that are defective not interested apple very disappointed I have most or all of your gadgets but after this dont thinking.l buy anything of yours I still have old nokia 13 years old works perfect never changed anything I also have a vintage commodore computer still works even if i pull it out every year but 3 apple device left on the side explodes and it's my fault cos they out of warranty and they're old disgusting I'm gonna complain on every channel as your goods are not cheap and I expect them to last and give a Mickey Mouse cost on repair is a disgrace after telling me to come to the Trafford centre store to see what the technician can do which was also the manger
Me to. New years so have not contacted Apple yet thank god my daughter was not using this while it was plugged in. Very dangerous I don't care what Apple says. My nine year old uses this phone, when we are not.
Mine's the same, opened my drawer early Christmas morning (25-Dec 2013) and guess what, cracked open on one side ...
My phone carrier told me it's out of warranty so no more coverage and I asked them to official send a request to Apple if there's anything they can do and Apple replied after a few days and said the same thing - out of warranty coverage.
Well, I hope Apple realizes that this is something they should look at and I hope nobody gets hurt from this bloated, exploding or self-destructing batteries in the future.
I better keep away my remaining Apple products from my children until this issue has been officially acknowledged and fixed.
Found my IPhone 3 GS in the same condition. Battery failure/exploded, the screen lifted (excessively) and cracked, as well as the backside bulging outward. This IPhone is rarely used these days and is only used for music. It is kept in a drawer and safe from the elements......WTH? Can't seem to post my photos, but I just had to post my disappointing experience and mourn the money lost!
First off my comment was not directed to you. I think youre being inflamatory here with your comments. I have read your comments and nowhere did I see were you had this very same experience yourself and you seem to be on this crusade to minimize our experience. Why? You certainly are entitled to your opinion, free speech is our right, but I think you are taking this role of self appointed expert on Lithium Ion batteries too far. Your comments are not useful from the standpoint that you make us look like we are a bunch of whiners
as though we dont have a right to express to Apple our displeasure with the way they are handling this situation.
I can see you expressing your opinion once or twice, but it appears to me that you want to contradict, minimize and ridicule people's legitimate right to express their displeasure as though we are ignorant.
If it weren't for people like us who take the time to voice our discontent in a respectful yet honest way, then nothing would be done about this or any other problem. I got news for you, companies and technology makes mistakes and many of those who recognized it, had to make good on their mistake. And you know what? Customers respect that when a company admnits to have made a mistake.
We are not bad mouthing Apple, we are all loyal fanatics of Apple's products and have been for a long time, some of us, as expressed in the comments, are shocked that apple would handle this issue like this. And we want Apple to know i t. Plain and simple, no hidden agendas...the truth.
Barry Shell wrote:
I took it into the Apple store I was told by a genius that this was a "feature" of the phone.
Ludicrous. A burst tyre is not a feature of the tyre, a leaking pipe is not a feature of the pipe, and an expanding Li-on battery is not a feature of an iPhone.
as Lawrence Finch has pointed out this is the way that Apple prevents the phone from igniting and REALLY doing damage to life and property.
No he didn't. This is on record in this thread.
In all my life of about 50 years of owning countless electronic devices from my first 6 transistor radio to my current MacBook Air I've never had a product that self-destructed BY DESIGN after 2.5 years.
And you haven't had one now. I have also owned countless electronic produducts for well over 50 years, and have noted that Lithium ion batteries have only been used for the last twenty years or so, and are a lot more reliable now to what they were like then.
These batteries have been installed in hundreds of millions of devices. OK, so several thousand have given problems. Even tens of thousands. Name me another product of this type that is manufactured in these numbers and has never had a fault.
To me and many on this group the responsibility should be with the manufacturer to explain clearly up front when and how to change batteries in their products if those batteries are designed to and known to destroy the product only 2 or 3 years after the product is purchased.
Again, ludicrous. Are you sure you are of the age you imply?
iPhone 3gs exploding expanding battery
