iPhone Sets Itself On Fire Aboard an Australian Flight

Oliver Haslam, Nov 28, 2011

If there is one thing you really don’t want to happen, it’s your iPhone setting itself on fire. If there’s something you really, really don’t want to happen, it’s the aforementioned combustion happening on an airplane!

During a flight between Lismore and Sydney, Australia, a passenger’s iPhone began to emit “a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow,” which apparently isn’t a good thing to happen mid-air.

The fire was extinguished and the flight landed safely, but the poor iPhone has certainly not survived…

While no details have been given by the airline as to which particular model the iPhone was, as you can see in the photo, it was either an iPhone 4 or 4S, and the mini-blaze has clearly made a mess of that glass panel.

The main thing here is obviously the safe landing of the plane and the fact that nobody was hurt, but it does raise an uncomfortable question for Apple. With millions of iPhone users flying around the globe, is there a potential for this to happen again?

This isn’t the first time Apple has had issues with its batteries. A couple of years ago, reports suggested that certain iPods had faulty batteries that could significantly overheat. More recently, Apple recalled and replaced the original iPod nano due to a similar fault.

Is anyone else acutely aware of how warm their iPhone gets now?

 
  • http://twitter.com/_waqarmalik W.Malik

    After using facetime for more than 25mins my iphone 4 becomes unbelievably warm!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1328406825 Jeffrey Zamora

      now. imagine it for 3 hours LOL.
      i use facetime for a period of 3 hours everyday

  • http://twitter.com/alexjdz Alex Diaz

    Shouldn’t it turn itself off?

  • http://twitter.com/agustinc Agustin

    it’s an iPhone 4: the A1332 model name can be read in the photo… my iPhone gets really hot too sometimes, more often now than before, after upgrading to iOS 5.0.1

  • Jon Garrett

    maybe it was jail broken and he was running a defective app and it made the phone overheat.

    or

    a test run for something more sinister. hope not.

    • http://www.bloise.co.uk Frankie Bloise

      im thinking that apple can turn iphone 4 into some zombie bombs and kill certain people at the US military request.

      Lol, just discovered the next James Bond plot!

      • Jon Garrett

        Its possible, the Israelis have done it but they had to get the actual phone. they put the explosive in the earpiece (ouch) replaced the phone….made the phone call. the rest is history.

      • http://www.facebook.com/AnimosityX043 Will Burris

        someone was watching too much NCIS lol

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=675409720 Mark Andrews

    I have had my iPhone 4 for some time and it dies get pretty hot at times.
    Though not hot enough to catch fire – and it does shut itself down.

  • http://twitter.com/jamiebanks4321 Jamie Banks

    When syncing my iPhone 4 with iTunes over Wi-Fi My iPhone Gets EXTREMELY hot and i can’t even hold it for more than 4 secs without burning myself.

    • Anonymous

      Wow

    • Joshua Mayne

      Same here hey..

  • Anonymous

    I hope they don’t forbid the use of iPhones aboard airplanes.

  • Kok Hean

    Or it could be a very good iPhone 4 clone.

  • Dan

    lets hope they don’t start exploding!

  • http://twitter.com/gordonmkf Gordon F

    In car with GPS on and charging via incar media system with music playing my 4 shuts itself down after 20 mins or so. 4s runs hotter and even longer but no shutdown due to overheating yet although you can hardly hold it.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredstrugala/ geetarspaz

    Maybe this was just a test to see what they could do, and I’m this instant, setting itself on fire. There’s an app for that ;)

  • Anonymous

    Yeah my iPod got so hot te other day it actually burned and not only that but the metal expanded. Is that covered by the warranty? I have an ottor box case.

  • Thomas Gehman

    LOL he had the Steve Jobs head in the Apple logo thing.

    • http://twitter.com/AlamarMarine Spencer Beacon

      Good spot!! There is Apple’s get out of jail for free card. The phone had been modified. Please leave all warranties at the door.

    • Anonymous

      Huh?

    • http://twitter.com/Mrmelendez Will Melendez

      Good eye !
      I didnt even see that .

    • http://www.facebook.com/AnimosityX043 Will Burris

      its a possibility but the cracks in the glass could prove otherwise seeing as theres one or more running alone the bite mark in the apple symbol

  • http://twitter.com/xxslappawappaxx Dan Murphy

    No, I’m pretty sure that the apple looks like his face merely because it has a crack through it. It does look kinda like it thogh! But I think it’s a coincidence..

    • Thomas Gehman

      That was the first thing I thought after I notoced it. I dunno….it could just be a crack, but it lookes too much like the head……are there more pics to prove this?

      • David Garcia

        The back plate on this iPhone weather it be a 4 or 4s is not the Remembering Steve Jobs back plate due to that those back plates say Steve Jobs 1955-2011 either under the apple logo or replacing the designed in California etc. and the FCC and other labels.

  • Joshua Mayne

    Yeah I was get worried when my iPhone 4 gets really hot. I remember once I was so worried I placed it in a fridge for Atleast 30 seconds (aware that I could probably ruin it) but it cooled down and was good… But it’s a scary thought…