There can be no iPhone launch without some controversy surrounding it. Now, the same is happening with the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, with one more incident being reported where a new iPhone is found to be split open from the sides, exposing the machinery inside. Swelling of the battery is being blamed for the issue.
Following the recent complaints, Apple has now confirmed that it is investigating the issue, according to TechCrunch. The company gave no further details on the issue, including the number of such incidents reported. However, so far not many incidents have been heard of. A recent report from CNET talked about six reports in around five countries of the iPhone 8 splitting.
The first case of the iPhone 8 splitting was reported in Taiwan, where a woman purchased a 64GB iPhone 8 Plus in rose gold. After five days, when she put the phone on to charge using the original cable, the owner noticed a bulge in the front panel. Similar incidents have also been reported in Hong Kong, Japan, Canada and Greece.
Today, Reuters reported one more incident of the iPhone 8 splitting doing rounds in the Chinese media, where a brand new iPhone 8 Plus arrived cracked open on October 5. As per the reports, the phone or the packaging had no signs of explosion or burn. Based on the images in circulation (via ), the front screen was bent, and the device was non-functional.
According to the Chinese report, the iPhone in question was purchased from JD.com. So, Apple will not directly help the iPhone owner. Though the cause is unconfirmed for now, it is believed that swelling of the battery is forcing the handset to split open. It must be noted that phones have minute tolerances, so even a minimal increase in the size of any component could render the device unusable.
It may appear that the problem may not be widespread, but nowadays everyone is pretty attentive to such incidents in the wake of the exploding Galaxy Note 7 situation. However, unlike the Note 7 fiasco, there might not be a recall of the iPhone 8 as no injury or any possibility of it has been reported as yet. Nevertheless, considering Apple’s scale, even a minute failure rate will affect quite a few users.
Such incidents will surely downplay the popularity of Apple’s latest flagship, which is already being reported to have a comparatively slower start. Apple shares have also been down since the launch of the handsets. Investors are concerned that the pre-orders this time will be less than the previous iPhones. Further, Apple also did not provide the first weekend sales number of the handsets, which went on sale on September 22, as it has done with the new iPhones before.
However, it is largely believed that the core Apple fans are anxiously waiting for the iPhone X, which will be out next month. Pre-sales for the iPhone X will start on October 27.
In pre-market trading today, Apple shares were in the red. Year to date, the stock is up over 34%, while in the last one-month, it is down over 4%.
