Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Man claims iPhone 7 burst into flames and destroyed his car

Updated Oct 20th, 2016 2:09PM EDT
iPhone 7 Exploding
Image: Apple

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

Welcome to the post-Galaxy Note 7 world, where every exploding smartphone instantly makes the news. An iPhone 7 owner appears to be the latest victim, claiming that he left his iPhone 7 in his car and came back to find the vehicle filled with smoke with the interior badly burned. While the cause of the fire hasn’t yet been confirmed by officials, photos from the scene show that the fire indeed destroyed the interior of the car.

DON’T MISS: These 5 insanely thin iPhone 7 cases are perfect for people who hate iPhone cases

Australian surfing instructor Mat Jones says that he left his week-old iPhone 7 under a pair of pants in his car while he went out to give a lesson. When he came back from surfing, he says the windows of his car were completely black. When he opened his door, he immediately felt a wave of heat as smoke escaped from the car.

Jones says he bought the new iPhone 7 just one week ago, and he claims that he has not dropped it or used any third-party chargers to recharge the device. While this is obviously no indication of any sort of widespread problem, similar incidents often occur after a phone suffers some type of trauma.

According to a report from local news station 7 News, the man says he has no doubt that the iPhone was the source of the fire. “Ash was just coming from inside the pants which then, once you wrapped open the pants, the phone was just melting inside of it,” Jones told 7 News. Apple confirmed that the company is in touch with Jones and is looking into the incident.

Photos from the scene captured by 7 News photo below, and video footage of the phone and car can be seen by following this link.

phonecar

phone3

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.