Reports of exploding Apple Airpods made the rounds this week.
On Thursday, Feb. 8, Jason Colon from St. Petersburg, Florida, was surprised when he noticed smoke leaking from his Apple Airpod while he was at the gym.
Colon details that he had been listening to dance music while exercising at LA Fitness. When he noticed the smoke from the Airpod, he took off the listening equipment right away to request some assistance. However, one of the Airpods was already charred. The left earphone had no issues, but his shock was apparent from the state of the other headphone.
“I don’t know what would’ve happened to my ear. But I’m sure that since it hangs down, it could’ve been [my] ear lobe, you know, my ear lobe could’ve been burnt.”
Colon revealed it was the craziest thing he experienced, although he did not see it happen. When he returned, the Airpods were already fried, and there are signs of “flame damage.”
As explained by Apple Insider, the burn residue found in the Airpods looks similar to an overheating battery . It might have been possible that the Airpod’s battery failed and damaged nearby parts. In Apple Airpods where batteries are in a confined space, it’s not unlikely for rupture to happen.
Apple released a statement that they are looking into the matter and that they will contact Colon to request more information about what happened to the device. Colon doesn’t have a solid idea as to why the devices overheated, but he is worried that it will happen to someone else and have worse consequences. Hence, he finds it necessary to warn the public about the exploding Airpods from Apple.
While this issue demands attention, it can be noted that Apple encountered similar problems in the past. In late 2017, there were reports that some iPhone 8 units burst open . These were likely isolated cases, and most of the units Apple released to the public worked just fine.
Florida man’s #AirPods reportedly ‘blow up’ during gym workout https://t.co/aUFm6LDL6r pic.twitter.com/YBAwfY9EJm
— AppleInsider (@appleinsider) February 9, 2018
What happened to the Airpods is, most likely, similar to the iPhone 8 reports where the overheating battery seems to be the culprit.
So far, the company with the greatest issue concerning battery overheating remains to be Samsung. The release of the Note 7 was quite a disaster, and the South Korean smartphone company sustained huge losses after they recalled all the units following widespread issues of battery overheating.
As for exploding Apple Airpods, Colon’s report has been isolated, and no other reports have surfaced as of yet.