iPhone charging in U.S. catches fire: Camera captures moment of flash

In a home in the U.S. state of Ohio, an iPhone 4 that was charging caught fire while the whole family was asleep. A camera mounted in the kitchen recorded the fire going out shortly after it started. No one was injured in the fire.

According to 9to5mac.com, Brian and Jennifer Leisgang shared the details of what happened on Facebook, noting that the moment of the fire was captured by a Google Home series camera installed in the kitchen.

"Our kids were charging our old iPhone 4 with the Apple charger last night and it exploded and caught on fire in our kitchen while we were sleeping. Luckily we had just cleaned off the counter yesterday, as it usually has lots of school books and papers in that area. There were small pieces of the phone and black soot all over the counter this morning," the couple wrote on Facebook.

 

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in electronics and batteries rarely catch fire, but sometimes rechargeable batteries overheat and catch fire.

As for this particular iPhone, according to the site, there could be several reasons for the flashover. Poor quality chargers are often the cause of the flash, although in this particular case the charging cable is in good condition.

 

In addition, the age of this phone is also an important factor here. It is unlikely that this 12-year-old iPhone would have worked with its original battery, either its battery has been replaced, or the phone was constantly or mostly plugged into a charger, which could have caused it to overheat and therefore catch fire. There are no details on this.

Lithium-ion batteries can also expand over time. A chemical reaction inside the battery provides energy, but over time the chemical reaction can fail, causing gas to form. And this will cause the battery to swell, greatly increasing the risk of fire.