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In the course of an evening and night, a men Apple Watch battery expanded, overheated – and eventually “exploded”.
An apparent battery failure caused a Apple Watch Series 7 overheat and then explode, according to one Apple Watch owner’s story.
The owner told 9to5Mac that he’d noticed that the Apple Watch felt much hotter than usual, and that the device was displaying a high-temperature warning. Upon inspection, the owner noticed that the back of the Apple Watch was cracked.
He then called Apple Support, where the call was escalated to a manager who raised a case for further investigation. Apple Support advised the owner not to touch the watch until Apple contacted him again.
The next day, the owner woke up to find that the Apple Watch was heating up quickly and the screen was shattered. The owner then picked up the device, which started making “crackling noises”. The user claims it exploded just as he threw it out the window.
The man said he had sought medical attention for lead poisoning — which was unnecessary given the incredibly small mass of lead that could end up in an Apple Watch from manufacturing. It is not clear whether the man was injured in the incident.
He went on to warn Apple about the situation, telling him they would escalate the matter further.
According to the owner, Apple has sent a document requesting not to share the story. However, he refused to sign the document.
On Wednesday, the company arranged a delivery pickup to take the device to its labs for further testing.
In May 2021, a man sought a class action lawsuit against Apple for selling defective batteries and violating warranty promises after his iPhone exploded in his face in 2019.
In March 2021, an Australian man who… landed myself in the hospital after his iPhone X exploded in his pocket. He also demanded damages from Apple.
It’s not clear how old the man’s Apple Watch Series 7 was. Early, catastrophic failures of lithium-ion batteries in Apple products are rare and significantly lower than the average failure rate in the mobile device industry.
What to do if you are in a similar position?
Lithium-ion batteries are generally safe. Problems can arise from what the industry calls a “runaway” thermal condition in the battery, or from severe shock or other physical damage to the battery housing of the device.
The cracked back and high temperature alerts on the Apple Watch from last night were clear indications that something was dramatically wrong with the battery. If you ever see anything similar, remove the device from inside your vehicle or home and contact Apple’s — or the appropriate vendor — support.