iPhone battery explodes in Chinese man’s face after he bites it

“Last Friday (Jan. 19), while looking for a new replacement battery for his iPhone at an electronics store in China, a man inexplicably decided to bite into one of the batteries to somehow test its authenticity, leading the device to suddenly explode in a ball of fire,” Keoni Everington reports for Taiwan News.

“Video of the bizarre incident which captured in the store’s CCTV camera was posted on the Chinese video sharing site miaopai.com on Jan. 20 and since been viewed over 4.45 million times,” Everington reports. “In the video, a man places an iPhone battery in his mouth and he proceeds to bite it, apparently to test its authenticity or durability.”

“Because his teeth likely caused a catastrophic rupture to the device’s casing, it suddenly burst into a massive ball of fire which engulfed both he and his female companion,” Everington reports. “Fortunately, news outlets report that no one was injured in the blast, but many in the store were startled by the sudden explosion.”

iPhone battery explodes in Chinese man's face after he bites it to test its authenticity  (image via: miaopai.com)
iPhone battery explodes in Chinese man’s face after he bites it to test its authenticity (image via: miaopai.com)

 
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MacDailyNews Take: And, the winner of this month’s Darwin Award is…

55 Comments

        1. Apple should be required by law to:
          – warn us NOT to BITE BATTERIES or expect them to last forever
          – warn us not to use iPads as babysitters
          – warn us not to bathe with an electronic device
          – warn us that coffee may be hot
          – warn us not to cross the street without looking in both directions beforehand

          I mean……it’s the least they can do

    1. FAKED!

      1:Before the bite, he’s holding a white iPhone in his left hand.

      2: The ball of fire from the “bite” is NOT centered on the battery and in fact is superimposed on the screen and overlaps the person in foreground with center of fireball at least a foot away from bite.

      3: When the biter turns back from recoiling from “explosion, he’s now holding a BLACK PHONE in his left hand instead of previously held white one. This is continuity error!

      4: He has no burns on face or hands from exploding battery.

      5: No residual smoke from explosion or resultant fire.

      6: Other observers reaction too subdued and none ran away. Staged. They knew it was not terrorist attack or shooting!

      7: Ergo FAKED!

    2. FAKED!

      1:Before the bite, he’s holding a white iPhone in his left hand.

      2: The ball of fire from the “bite” is NOT centered on the battery and in fact is superimposed on the screen and overlaps the person in foreground with center of fireball at least a foot away from bite.

      3: When the biter turns back from recoiling from “explosion, he’s now holding a BLACK PHONE in his left hand instead of previously held white one. This is continuity error!

      4: He has no burns on face or hands from exploding battery.

      5: No residual smoke from explosion or resultant fire.

      6: Other observers reaction too subdued and none ran away. Staged. They knew it was not terrorist attack or shooting!

      7: No one close to the bright flash or acrid chemicals is rubbing their eyes afterwards.

      8: Ergo FAKED!

    1. It’s likely a test that’s common to determine if a battery is fake or not. Trust in China is really, really, really low… when it comes to buying things. Buyer beware.

      1. Darwinian evolution and advantage/disadvantage has nothing to do with the Darwin Awards mentioned in the MDN take.

        You do know what Darwin Awards are, and the basic rules of how people are nominated and win them, right?

    1. Oh, I don‘t know. Remember the woman who tried to dry her dog in the microwave and is thereby responsible for the death of millions of trees (for all the extra paper needed for the most ridiculous health and safety warnings)? Or the guy who thought it was a good idea to let his three-year old play with a loaded gun? Or the guy who went ice-fishing with dynamite and his dog … actually, that one’s an urban legend. My bad.

      If you ARE interested in the Darwin Awards, have a look at thheir website http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/

  1. Apple will be blamed for not making the iPhone bite-proof or making the the iPhone too tasty-looking. I could understand a baby or a child trying to taste an electronic device but an adult… puh-lease. This dude needs a pacifier.

    I know dog bites man stories are not sensational but man bites iPhone is definitely a sensational story. I don’t care what he did as long as Apple isn’t being blamed for it.

    1. And was…..was that……was that a look of SURPRISE on his face??? Because never in a million years would he expect that mishandling a device expressly designed to store energy would result in ….just perhaps…. a sudden and complete release of that energy………………………………….I mean what is he? A scientist?

  2. I watched the video several times and it appears to me that the flash was not in the same place as the battery, which was in the man’s hand and still fairly close to his head/body. My conclusion is that this is a poor hoax executed for publicity/profit. Even if it turns out to be a hoax, as I suspect, that is 4.5M hits and counting. That has to be worth something.

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