Exploding iPhone 7 Predecessor 6s Plus Reported; Class Action Suits Over ‘Touch Disease’ Filed Against Apple

A college student from Burlington County, N.J. has claimed that his iPhone 6s Plus exploded inside his back pocket. The student was identified as Darin Hlavaty, who is claiming that the iPhone 7 predecessor burned a hole in his jeans.

“Right as class was starting, my phone started smoking in my pocket. It was a fire. I felt this crazy, hot burning in my leg,” Hlavaty recounted the incident to ABC on Saturday. “It was super hot, so I flinched, grabbed it, threw it on the ground. Had to kick it because it was one fire.”

Hlavaty’s classmate, Rebecca Bookbinder, said the entire class was shocked when smoke began to come out of the former’s pocket. Bookbinder added that it was in the middle of a class when the Apple device combusted.

The iPhone caught fire though the smartphone was not being charged, as per PhoneArena. In contrast, Samsung’s faulty Galaxy Note 7 was found to be prone to exploding when it is connected to a charger. It was also found out that Hlavaty’s 6-month-old iPhone 6s Plus had a crack in it prior to the incident. Thus, the tech site suspects that this may or may not be the root cause of the disaster that took place.

Complex has learned that though campus public safety contained the situation, the room still reeked of the smoke that the device emitted, forcing the teacher and the students to transfer to another room for the remaining time of the period.

The news about the exploding iPhone 6s Plus comes amid reports that class action lawsuits were filed against the Cupertino giant in Canada due to the notorious malfunctioning phenomenon that persists among older iPhones known as “touch disease.”

“Touch disease” is a term coined by iFixit to refer to the loss of touch sensory functionality of an iPhone when it is handled roughly or dropped. The touch sensors fail to respond to touch commands in this case, according to Patently Apple.

The lawsuits were filed by Merchant Law Group in September, claiming that the tech giant has knowledge of the defect, but it still failed to address the problem. The lawsuit also stipulated that Apple “knowingly and intentionally concealed” the defect from customers.

"As they began to have more and more complaints and people were going to them — and we've had significant numbers of people contact us — they brushed it under the rug," lawyer Tony Merchant was quoted as saying by CBC News.

Apple has yet to comment on both issues as of late.