A Vodafone retail store in Canberra, Australia was reportedly evacuated last week after an in-store demo iPad "exploded", filling the location with smoke and sparks, reports News.com.au. While no one was harmed during the incident, the iPad reportedly emitted the sparks from its charging port as firefighters were called to the scene to handle the situation. An Apple representative reportedly visited the scene afterwards to investigate the explosion, but Apple has not commented on the incident.
This is not the first time this year that an Apple product was accused of being a safety hazard, as a woman in China suffered eye injuries from her iPhone 5 after it exploded while she was on the phone this past August. Additionally, a Chinese man was left in a coma after receiving an electric shock while charging his iPhone 4 in July, which followed the death of a Chinese woman under similar circumstances.
Both latter incidents apparently involved the use of unauthorized third-party adapters, with Apple responding to the events by establishing an international third-party USB charger "Takeback Program" offering official replacement chargers for $10 to anyone who turns in a suspect adapter.
Credit:
macrumors.com
Credit:
macrumors.com
