This article was posted 07/25/2013 and is most likely outdated.

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Apple to Investigate iPhone-related Death

Apple to Investigate iPhone-related Death

Reuters report for NBC News
July 15, 2013 at 9:20 AM ET
(Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
iPhone 5
Apple is investigating an accident in which a Chinese woman was killed by an electric shock when answering a call on her iPhone 5 while it was charging, the U.S. technology company said on Monday.

Last Thursday, Ma Ailun, a 23-year-old woman from China's western Xinjiang region and a flight attendant with China Southern Airlines, was electrocuted when she took a call on the charging mobile telephone, the official Xinhua news agency quoted police as saying on Sunday.

"We are deeply saddened to learn of this tragic incident and offer our condolences to the Ma family. We will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter," Apple said in an e-mail.

Apple declined to comment on details, such as whether this was an isolated case.

Ma's sister tweeted on Sina's microblog saying that Ma collapsed and died after using her charging iPhone 5 and urged users to be careful, a message that went viral on the site.

In April, Apple apologized to Chinese consumers and altered iPhone warranty policies in its second-biggest market after its after-sales service suffered more than two weeks of condemnation by the state-run media.

Mike Holt’s Comment: In the USA, the power supply is plugged in to 120V power, then it’s converted to 5V and the power supply ‘limits’ the energy to the phone. Makes great news, but not reality!

 
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Comments

  • See the attached link for an update on this news article. A third party charger was involved and Apple is apparently offering replacements.

    //news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57594449-37/iphone-related-death-in-china-could-be-linked-to-fake-charger/

    TimB  August 27 2013, 5:36 pm EDT
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  • Our local inspector is requiring a seperate circuit for each garage door opener if there are two or more with seperate GFI protection. They are allowing the use of a GFI outlet in normal garage ceilings easily accesed with standard equipment. These loads are nominal at best and the load is less than a single circuit for non continuous use. What grounds do they have to make this ruling?

    Bob Vignaroli  July 26 2013, 9:49 am EDT
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  • I'm a licensed electrician originally from canada and primarily work overseas in jurisdictions that have no inspection or quality control. 3 times now, I have been called up to deal with this exact issue on mac products. Although it was on the laptops, I finally figured out that if the line voltages were exact meaning 120 to N or 230 to N with no voltages on the Neutral, then no shocks would occur. But once the N starts to float, then the shock increases considerably. The first time I was called, I didn't want to believe it since I am a mac user myself. So I licked my hand, grabbed the laptop and slapped my hand onto the ceramic floor and wow! what a buzz I got from that one. So I completely believe the tragic story of the woman in China

    john laidley  July 26 2013, 3:18 am EDT
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  • Certainly to stop the heart by paralyzing the motor sensory part of the brain there would need to be a high potential to ground with a much larger ampacity than wants present on a phone charger. Maybe a lighting strike or high stray voltage or a malfunctioning battery acting as a high voltage capacitor.

    Salvador Arthur Cedillo  July 26 2013, 12:12 am EDT
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  • The focus of this investigation is now on the charging device. Apparently it was an after market product, not a factory supplied charger.

    Wanna wager where it was manufactured?

    John Travers  July 26 2013, 12:04 am EDT
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