Man says iPhone 4 exploded while charging

An iPhone 4 user said on Friday that he planned to make on online complaint if he cannot get a satisfactory reply from Apple China after his phone exploded while charging.

The phone's owner, Zhang Jian, has not received a reply from the company by Friday.

An iPhone 4 exploded while it was plugged into a factory charger and burned a vest that it was resting on in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, on Wednesday. Provided to China Daily

Zhang, from Zhuzhou, Hunan province, claimed that his iPhone, bought two years ago, exploded when he used a factory iPhone charger and data cable to charge it on Wednesday.

Zhang said he powered off the phone before charging it before he went to sleep at about 9:30 pm on Tuesday. At about 6:30 am, he was woken up by a loud noise and smelt burning plastic and found his iPhone shrouded with thick black smoke.

"I pulled out the power plug immediately, but the phone was too hot. I waited for about five minutes. There was a hole in my vest under the phone," Zhang said.

The top of the black iPhone had a huge crack and there were many cracks on the screen. Burns could be seen at the top and the built-in battery was exposed, Zhang said.

Zhang called Apple China's helpline on Thursday morning after the incident. The technical staff asked Zhang to send pictures of the damaged phone and said the company would give Zhang a reply two days later. They did not give a reason for the explosion.

Zhang also went to a local Apple repair store on Thursday. The staff member suspected the explosion might have been caused by a water leak in the phone and promised to provide a new one with Zhang's identification card and the damaged phone. However, the staff member changed his mind the next day, saying he had no right to deal with the matter.

The general manager of the repair store surnamed Yi told China Daily that they only provide maintenance service for minor damages and the customer needed to pay for repairs if the phone is beyond the warranty period.

"Zhang's phone was damaged in an abnormal way, which is beyond our scope of service and he needs to contact the Apple China hotline," Yi said.

It is not the first case that an iPhone has exploded. Wang Kai, from Chongqing, said his phone caught fire on July 9. He said he also was sleeping when the phone spontaneously combusted and burned his rug.

Apple's after-sales service was notified at that time, saying they are investigating whether user error was to blame.

On July 8, a man was in a coma in Beijing after being shocked while charging his iPhone 4.

Apple China rejected any response to the incident when contacted by China Daily.

Feng Zhiwei in Hunan contributed to this story.