It looks like the Samsung Galaxy S4 might not be the only smartphone that’s guilty of bursting into flames. Reportedly, an iPhone 6 has now suffered the same fate as well.
On October 11th, Phillip Lechter claims he and his family traveled to Tucson, Arizona to see a University of Arizona football game. En route to their tailgate party, they decided to take a leisurely ride in a pedicab rickshaw — you know, those bikes that have a carriage for passengers attached to them.
Related: This Is How Much Force It Takes To Bend The iPhone 6
Shortly into their ride, the driver lost his balance when he hit a track on the road. This caused the rickshaw to tip over a bit, and Lechter’s brand new iPhone 6 — which he had gotten less than a month ago — somehow caught fire in the middle of this situation.
Lechter recounts the entire shocking experience on his blog:
“I felt a burning sensation on my leg and then saw and smelled smoke from my pants. I surveyed the rickshaw quickly and could not find anything that could have set me on fire. Then it hit me, my phone was in my pocket. Somehow in the process of the tipping of the rickshaw my new [Apple] iPhone 6 had bent in my front pocket and caught on fire.
The smoke was thick and I quickly laid down to get the [Apple] iPhone 6 out of my pocket. The smell was disturbing. I could feel my leg burning. I pulled the Apple iPhone 6 out of my pocket and threw it to the side. Someone from a crowd of spectators threw a cup of water on my leg to put the fire out on my jeans. I had a leather Apple case on the phone, and the case was facing forward, and that saved my fingers from getting badly burned when [I] went to remove the phone from my pocket. A bystander was not so lucky; he picked up the phone without the case and burned his fingers.”
Someone captured a video of the sizzling phone:
The phone’s flames burned through Lechter’s jeans pocket and boxers, leading to first and second degree burns on his leg and hip. This is what his leg looked like right after he took his iPhone out of his pocket:
Phillip Lechter
Head over to Lechter’s blog for more photos of his burn and damaged phone.
All right, Apple. We can deal with #Bendgate. We can even tolerate pulling out a few strands for #Hairgate. But #Burngate? As much as we love the iPhone 6, we’re not willing to lose our epidermis — our top layer of SKIN — for a freakin’ smartphone.
Related: 11 Surprises About The iPhone 6 And 6 Plus
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