Posted by Kristina Volta.
In light of the recent events of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 phones setting on fire, many people have been looking to Apple as an alternative. However, the new news of Apple’s IPhone 7 catching flame has many consumers nervous. The most recent case was when an Australian surf coach, Matt Jones, left his phone under a pair of pants in his car while he taught a lesson. When he returned to his car he found that his car was full of smoke and where his phone was had been burnt up and the pants that had been on top of the phone were on fire. This is concerning for Apple whose stock has dropped .41%. This is going to be a knock to Apple’s popularity, especially after seeing the negative kickback that Samsung has been facing for a similar problem.
Apple has been investigating this report, challenging that he was not at the car when the fire started. Many people are beginning to believe that there is a possibility that Apple’s IPhone 7 has a similar Lithium-ion battery, which can become “unstable” when it’s put in certain situations. There is a chance the phone became too hot wrapped up in the pants in the car and that could have been the reason the phone caught fire.
Even though these claims haven’t been solidified yet, this could still cause a major setback for Apple and their products. Although there haven’t been many claims about Apple phones catching fire, the fear consumers now have could be significantly detrimental to their sales of the IPhone 7. Not to mention, if the case does come out to show that it was the IPhone’s battery that caught fire, Apple will be held liable for it.
When companies put out products their consumers and shareholders are putting faith in the company that they are purchasing a safe good unless otherwise mentioned. Lithium-ion batteries have been known to have issues for other products like “Tesla cars, Boeing jetliners, Hewlett Packard laptops and Hoverboards” as well as other IPhones. There was a case in March of an IPhone 6 bursting into flames on a flight to Hawaii. This is concerning for not only Apple, but also any other company who is or plans to use Lithium-ion batteries. This is a risk these companies are taking considering the clear unpredictability of the safety of these batteries.
Kristina is a marketing major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2019.
Sources:
http://fortune.com/2016/10/21/apple-iphone-7-explodes/
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/10/21/2nd-fire-apple-iphone-7-threatens-mass-recall/