French iPhone explodes mid-call, glass screen sent flying

Do more Apple gadgets explode than those of any other manufacturer, or do we just hear about them more? Either way, the latest iPhone to go fizz-pop-bang is in France, where a teenager’s handset began “hissing” before the screen shattered sending glass “flying in the air”.

“The iPhone was 30 centimetres away from my face when I felt like I received a grain of sand in my eye. It could only be a piece of glass” user Romain Koleda told reporters, while his mother is considering taking legal action against Apple. It’s unclear what model of iPhone was affected, though going by the picture it is either an iPhone 3G or a newer 3GS.

Apple France have not yet commented on the situation, despite requests from French news agencies. However Apple technical support told France24 that “some clients told us their batteries could get really hot on the 3GS model, and we’ve replaced a few products. But we’ve never heard of an iPhone that exploded.”

Following the report, another Frenchman contacted press claiming his iPhone’s display shattered during a call on July 25th. However he was reportedly not injured. Earlier this month it was reported that a teenage girl’s iPod touch exploded, while in the Netherlands an iPhone 3G caught fire and caused considerable damage to a car seat.

[via Guardian]