Apple Battery Fires - What is Going On? - News about Energy Storage, Batteries, Climate Change and the Environment

Several news feeds reported Apple battery fires last week. Apparently these happened while employees were replacing iPhone lithium batteries at two Apple stores. While we understand that employees are under pressure to process as many phones as possible and as quickly as possible, these events do require urgent investigation. This is especially since children could suffer harm while playing with these devices at home.

What We Know About the Apple Battery Fires

On Wednesday the 10th, January 2016, website Newsweek reported the second of two Apple battery fires at an Apple Store in Valencia, Spain. The retail outlet filled with smoke after an iPhone unit under repair unexpectedly caught alight.

The Apple employees reacted quickly by opening windows and smothering the flames. There were no injuries, perhaps because of lessons learned the previous day.

A similar incident had happened the day before, that time at an Apple Store in Zurich, Switzerland. Some fifty customers and workers had to evacuate after an explosion occurred while a technician was removing a lithium-ion iPhone battery.

Per a police report, “The staff responded well and correctly … they sprinkled quartz sand over the overheated battery so that the smoke could be contained and sucked out after switching on the ventilation.” The technician and seven other people required minor medical assistance after the incident.

What is Going On Behind The Scenes at Apple?

We stumbled over a speculative report on the website, Phone Arena. We did not find support for this opinion on major news feeds at the time of writing. However, we think the story is sufficiently important to share.

Phone Arena reports a DIY enthusiast decided to remove an iPhone battery himself. While we do not know why he chose to do so, this is something we do routinely on other phones. The amateur enthusiast found adhesive tape holding the battery in place.

As he wrestled with the tape, the battery bent, short-circuited, and exploded. We understand, and accept Apple does not intend the iPhone to be user-serviceable. However, to the extent that the Phone Arena report is correct, we believe something needs doing urgently to protect consumers from further Apple battery fires.