Sydney biker falls, causes iPhone 6 to explode & burn his behind

One billion iPhones sold are enough proof that smartphones made by Cupertino-based Apple are in high demand and valued that in China, donors of 17 ml of sperm get a free iPhone and US$1,000 (A$1,328). However, cases of iPhones exploding continue to happen, and in the case of a Sydney biker, it burned his behind after the smartphone burst following a bike spill.

Gareth Clear was mountain biking on Sunday afternoon around Manly Dam when he fell from his bike and landed on his iPhone 6, reports Daily Telegraph. After a few seconds, the smoke came out from the phone still in his back pocket and he felt a burning heat on his butt.

The six-month-old phone suddenly exploded and melted through his shorts. It burned through two layers of skin on the 36-year-old Bondi man’s upper right thigh.

The biker describes the searing pain as if a huge block of ice was pushed against his leg. Clear checked and saw the thick biking shorts and Skin he was wearing underneath the shorts melting, reports Daily Mail.

When he attempted to take off his melting biking shorts and the exploded iPhone 6, Clear burned his fingers. He had to punch the phone off his burning behind using his fist. It caused the phone to fall to the ground where smoke continued to emit.

Clear waited for the gadget to cool, took it from the ground using two pieces of wood and walked back to Manly where he sought help. At the Royal North Shore Hospital where Clear went for treatment, he had to go through skin graft surgery because of the severity of the burn.

Clear says he had been using a mobile phone for the last 18 years and in a one in a million chance, when he fell from his bike, he hit the part of the iPhone 6 that pierced the lithium battery which exploded. Because of the freak accident, Clear has to stay home for the rest of the week and remain hooked to a machine to prevent infection.

Dr Da Wei-Wang, from the University of New South Wales’s Faculty of Chemical Engineering, says the explosion of the iPhone upon impact was likely caused by overheating and faulty design of the mobile phone’s structure. Apple said it would investigate the incident, according to Clear who intends to bike again when he recovers but plans to leave his new phone home, not anywhere near his bottom.

A similar incident was experienced by a Phoenix man with also an iPhone 6 in 2015.

VIDEO: Phoenix man claims iPhone 6 exploded in his pocket