An Apple iPad reportedly exploded last week, causing a Vodafone store in Australia to be evacuated.
This is according to News.com.au and comes about four months after an incident in China, in which 23-year-old Ma Ailun was electrocuted to death when she answered a call on her iPhone 5, while it was charging.
According to the Australian news site, a "burst of flames" appeared from the charging port of a demo iPad, which then started to fill the store with smoke as sparks continued to surround the device.
The fire brigade was called in, says the report, and the store evacuated. No injuries were reported.
News.com.au says Apple refused to respond to its requests for comment, but says it understands an Apple representative visited the store after the incident to investigate the cause of the explosion.
iExplosions
Meanwhile, since the July iPhone 5 fatality, further reports have emerged of exploding iPhones.
In September, a concerned mother posted on online forum Apple Support Community, saying her 7-year-old son's iPhone 3 had exploded while it was charging on his bedside table.
"Around 11pm I heard a popping noise. I isolated it to his room where he had been woken by it and was scared. I saw that the screen of the phone was being forced out of the phone and was continuing to get pushed out, the motherboard was bending. I was able to prise it apart quickly and remove the battery which was about four times its normal size and solid like a massively over-inflated balloon."
About a month prior to that, again in China, ZDNet reported that a woman almost lost her eyesight after her iPhone 5 exploded in her hand, spraying debris into her eye - scratching her cornea.
The news site cites Da Lian Evening News, saying the woman was on the phone when she felt the screen getting hot. At that time, says ZDNet, she had been on the phone for 40 minutes.
"When she looked at the device to check it [she] discovered the touch-screen was not responding when she tried to end the call. After a few more tries, the screen exploded."
Apple did not respond at the time to request for comment around the July fatality, but a month later announced a universal programme that aimed to replace counterfeit USB power adaptors. The company said it would offer original Apple adaptors at the "special price" of $10 (about R100) for a limited time.
Apple said customer safety was a top priority for the company.
Share