iPhone 3gs exploding expanding battery

Hi guys and gals,

just realised that my 3gs also expanded. The screen is out and the phone is unusable.

Anyone had any recent luck with Apple? This is a safety issue IMHO.

There was a recall for 1st gen ipods nano - is there one for 3gs?

Many thanks,

M

Same thing happen to my White 32gb 3gs last week. My 8 year old son was using it as an ipod and while it was charging the back broke open and the screen popped out. It was charging on the night stand next to his bed. First thing I did was move all the chargers out of the kids rooms. I called Apple and they made an appointment for me at the Apple Store. They made it sound like they had ever heard of this. I bought it in the the Park Meadows apple store and the told me he had never heard of one exploding like this. The only thing they could do was charge me $149 to replace it with a refurbished one and could charge me for a battery replacement because they don't the parts anymore. He took it in the back to show someone to see if they could do anything else. When he returned, without the phone, and said that was all they could do. I asked him were my phone was and he told me that they needed to Professionally recycle it and it wasn't safe for me to handle. He then asked me if I would like to talk to a sale staff about a new ipod for my son. Great Customer support. I hope they have fixed the battery issue because I don't want my iwatch to explode on my wrist.

having the same problem. bought iphone 3gs in 2009 used it until 2013 and put it in the drawer after i got a new phone. In nov 2015 decided to use it as a spare phone, reinstalled the software then switched off (since i had to get a new sim) and left in the drawer. After few days, i took it out to find it swollen. what can i do? will apple fix this problem or replace it with a new iphone 3gs.

ahmedhaneef wrote:

what can i do?

Take it to an Apple store.

Make a -> Genius appointmentfirst.

The crazy thing is this is happening even if the phone has not been charged for months. Some chemical process has the battery start expanding and pops out the display on top while two small screws at the bottom holds that side down. This causes enormous tensions in the frame of the phone and can even cause the display to shatter. Especially if the phone sits inserted in an aftermarket cover it is prevented from popping the display and this could lead to tensions causing what people would describe as an explosion when the power of the expanding battery builds up internal pressure forces.

Nothing crazy about it happens to all kinds of lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries.

It is however a problem for users since it results in a product that self-destructs with time and this may not be what the customer expected and likely Apple did not wish for it either.

Yes, and failing TVs with burning transformers, broken radiator hoses on cars, leaking hoses on washing machines, etc. are also unexpected and a problem for users. The battery does not go through expansion over a long period it does it rather suddenly and pretty quickly.