Man in China claims iPhone 7 exploded

Following Samsung Electronics ending of the production of its fire-prone Galaxy Note7 smartphones, fresh claims emerged in China that Apple's iPhone 7 exploded. Apple is also facing two reports that iPhone S6 Plus that was launched in September last year caught fire over the past week.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Apple accounted for an overwhelming share of smartphone battery explosion cases reported in the U.S. in the past five years.

Chinese media Pengpai said Wednesday that videos of iPhone 7 rose gold version owned by a man living in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, exploding is going viral. The man claimed that he was looking into the phone's screen in the evening of October 2 when the device split into half with a "popping" sound while the broken pieces injured his face. The video he posted online shows iPhone 7 exploding and split into half. However, there are no traces of battery having caught fire, and it thus remains unknown whether it exploded due to the faulty product. Still, there were traces of the phone's edges being blown up.

Pengpai said this was the first case of an iPhone exploding in China. Apple's Chinese unit said it already reported the case of the tech giant's headquarters in Cupertino.

"There have been cases of iPhone explosions in the U.S. as well," Pengpai said, raising possibility that there are problems on iPhone. U.S. media said last Friday that iPhone 6 caught fire while being charged in California. On Oct. 1, a student had his iPhone 6 Plus overheat and emit smoke in the pocket at a university in New Jersey with students being evacuated.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have been 77 cases of smartphone battery explosions reported in the U.S. since 2011, with Samsung Electronics following with 21 cases and LG Electronics with nine cases.

The consumer commission also said that iPhone 6S Plus rose gold version, which was bought two weeks ago, caught fire after battery overheated while charging in March. In December last year, a case was reported that iPhone 6S caught fire while connected to the PC with USB cable charring the computer.

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