iPhone overheats while docked, fight for replacement begins

Not even a month after three iPods got all hot and bothered on separate occasions, along comes images showing that even Apple's iPhone isn't immune to melting itself. Purportedly, the handset was purchased from Carphone Warehouse in December, but was never activated for one reason or another. Just this week, the owner's son slapped it in a dock with intentions of activating, walked downstairs to catch the last few minutes of Magnum, P.I. and returned to his room to find a "stupidly hot" iPhone which had already melted in some parts and had its screen cracked from the reaction. Not surprisingly, he's currently in the middle of a runaround trying to get someone to remedy the issue, but thankfully no Earthlings, carpets or IKEA desks were harmed.

Update: Thanks to Logan5's quick eyes, it appears we've discovered a scammer in our midst. Essentially, this bloke posted the real story here noting that the crack (more on that here) actually appeared after it was mishandled and dropped. Haven't we learned this approach doesn't work by now?

[DeadPixel @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:27AM]

lol! that blows. hope he can get a replacement, but why on earth was he watching magnum pi?

[Josh @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:58AM]

Jut look at the crack. It is obviously an impact bullet with crushed glass in the center. Not to mention there is nothing behind the black plastic here to cause the melting. He probably took a lighter to it. The battery is higher up.

[konceptz @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:27AM]

Looks like he stepped on the front and took a lighter to the back. :/

[Iain @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:53AM]

If what Logan has posted further down is correct, then you're bang on...

[Jared @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:07AM]

Major pwnage

[Sime @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:31AM]

i knew it was a hot phone but not like that...

[Chris Green @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:33AM]

Why are the images flipped?

[pscs @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:30AM]

@ Chris Green

Apple's Photo Booth programme does that... there's an option to flip the image to the correct side which obviously he didn't check.



oh, and it's not April fools anymore; I don't find that funny.

[ANutt3 @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:33AM]

This EXACT thing happened to me, but I just took it to the Apple store and they gave me a new one!

[Chebwa @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:13AM]

You know this story has been uncovered as a total sham, right?

Yeeeaaahhh...

This is a little awkward...

[ralph @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:35AM]

I wouldn't buy my iPhone from anywhere but Apple and AT&T. Sucks for him.

[Engadgetluvsappl @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:42AM]

He's in the UK, fool.

[ralph @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:07PM]

I'm sorry I didn't know that my bad. Just cause someone makes a mistake or something doesn't mean you start calling them names, engadgetluvsappl.

[PS3guy @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:36AM]

Stuff overheat all the time so what.

[tugger @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:37AM]

that t-shirt is from river island.

[Esat @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:46AM]

ive seen so many blurry photos that pictures that are clear like this make me immediately believe the story. is that wrong?

[absurdio @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:39PM]

Uh, evidently. Yes.

[Logan5 @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:47AM]

THIS IS A SCAM!!!

The SAME USER (thesheephair) posted this on MacRumors:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=463250

In effect, he claims his father dropped the iPhone cracking the screen and he was trying to figure out a way to get Apple to replace the unit for free. One of the things he wanted to do was quote:

"hmmm well i guess it can be a hardware flaw of over heating ...therefore glass and heat can be buyable,

huge glass screen is too much of a design flaw imo.."

[fd @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:49AM]

Nice investigative work.

I thought this story was an attempt at covering up accidental damage.

[Eric M. @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:07AM]

Nice catch man, I think this comment from one of the members from MacRumors explains it well..

"I'm all for Apple replacing genuine hardware faults on jailbroken/unlocked phones, but to want to get a phone that you/someone else actually smashed replaced free of charge by claiming a design defect is just plain wrong.

Do what you will, but don't expect any help or encouragement here."

People like this ruin it for everybody else..

[Seth @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:27AM]

I hate people that lie just to get glory.

[wrabbit @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:47AM]

I think the most important question is why in the name of all that's good and holy was he watching Magnum, P.I.?

[jerry @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:54AM]

FAKE!

the battery isn't even behind the plastic part - the antenna is

[Adam @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:55AM]

wow, what a scam, its not even real... look what the other guy posted, its even the same screen name, he says how his dad droped it, and it was jailbroken and unlocked... so duh he needed a cover up so he could get it replaced... uupdate it engadget...

[jsh4ft @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:59AM]

scam is a scam

[neolycan @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:04AM]

Two words... Fact checking... I'm all for this newfangled news from blogs deal over traditional media, but there need to be more actual Journalism work done... Not that print media isn't susceptible to being scammed or possibly fool of fraud in their articals, but still... it seems to me that'd it be easier to track down scamming with simple google searching with things like this... but meh, better luck next time engadget...

[Joshua Topolsky @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:07AM]

It's a bit hard to scour various forums thinking you might glean some extra information about a story like this. Without the hive-mind of the internet, it's doubtful anyone could have made this correlation. Take a look at the facts, and then reconsider your comment.

[Josh @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:02PM]

Facts? A google search of his screen name turns up the real story. Maybe you need some facts checked for yourself?

[lanejasper69 @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:06AM]

My Theory, Jailbreak didn't go well, threw it at wall, now trying to get a new one.

Faslane

[urothane @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:09AM]

This may be a scam, but every time I am on a call for a while or browsing over edge I notice the back of my iPhone, particularly the logo, gets almost too hot to touch. I never really thought about it, but does anyone else have this issue?

[TedB @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:32AM]

This is common, I know my iPhone and 2 of my friends iPhones do the exact same thing when we browse the internet for a long time. Not sure why, but it has not seemed to be a problem..... yet.

[yyl @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:10AM]

Yes, look at the crack lines on the front. It has an impact point (next to the Home button) and all the crack lines radiate from it. It shows something hard hit that spot and cracked the screen.

I suggest Engadget insert an update or remove this story altogether, because some readers might just read the headlines, and spread this false news to other places and cause misunderstanding.

[Michael @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:50AM]

I second that suggestion for removal.

[ma5t3rw1tt @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:18AM]

The truth is now shed into the light. I hate when people do something stupid to a device, then claim it was from something else. This is stupid and not a great way to get a lot of publicity while doing it, because eventually someone will find out about it anyway.

[neolycan @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:22AM]

Ahh, nice... updated.. The speed of retraction on the net is certainly faster than the old media... good on you engadget...

[Jon @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:22AM]

It looks like his dog chewed on it too. Look at the back - it's like there's bite marks in it. Lol.

[pushpin @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:23AM]

From reading this guys posts over at MacRumors, he bought the phone before Christmas, activated, jailbroke and unlocked it, and then bricked it while trying to install just too many tricks and whistles. He then states that his father stood on it and asked in the forums for advice about 'viginising' it before returning it to Apple. Looks like he's an idiot to me.

[loop @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:36AM]

well at least apple now knows that this is a scam.
i am sure they ll be checking engadget!!

[R1cebrner @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:05AM]

now if they had said they pulled it from the dock and burnt his hands so he dropped because of the heat and had pictures or dr visit for burnt fingers this may have been plausable. But that is the chance i guess people take when they don't activate on the approved vendor to get the insurance

[Sam Gibbs @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:06AM]

What a gimp, fair enough if it was a design default but come on, if you broke it yourself then wtf

[socritic @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:12AM]

what a schmuck.

[Frank Furter @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:30AM]

Did someone really need to 'blow his cover' before you realized it was a fraud? Hmmm. Bought from Carphone Warehouse (what the hell is THAT?), didn't activate it right away, and this is after iPhones have been on the market for nearly a year. Yeah, we needed Sherlock Holmes for that one.

Yeah yeah yeah, sometimes people don't activate them right away, but they way it fits in this story screams HOKEY.

[Rob @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:41AM]

Carphone Warehouse is one two non-Apple retail stores authorised to sell the iPhone in the UK.

[Shan @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:56AM]

Carphone Warehouse is an independent mobile phone retailer in the UK. When they started in the early 90s, car phones were the big thing, hence the name. They sell phones/phone plans from all the well known manufacturers and mobile network operators. They are an Apple authorised reseller of the iPhone.

[Frank Furter @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:58AM]

I see. Didn't know they used the term 'car' in the UK. Or at least the term 'car' to refer to a, well, car.

[LoonyPandora @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:45AM]

I pray that this comes back to my service centre for repair... We will laugh so hard.

[Alan Spach @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:50AM]

Looks like it was dropped.

[Don Wilson @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:33PM]

You know what's awesome? My iPhone's power button wasn't working, so I walked into the store, told them, and walked out with a brand new one. Have fun "fighting" for a new iPhone.

[Shane Lloyd @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:58PM]

Maybe if Engadget wasn't so eager to kowtow to a vocal minority who seem to think they post too much on one of the biggest players in the consumer electronic world, then they wouldn't feel the need to report as news random problems of dubious nature (from any manufacturer for that matter).

[Shane Lloyd @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:13PM]

This is classic. In one forum he says that the phone is jail broken and in another he says it isn't. (He was trying to find a way to restore it to original, because in order to pull off his scam with Apple it would need to be in original condition). When asked to explain this discrepancy (among all the other lies) his response is (and this is just classic):

"Jailbroken means that it has been hacked, i thought jailbroken meant that it was opened and turned on and not out of the box in new condition, i stupidly thought jail was the box and broken opened so therefore the seal was broken on the iphone box.. wayy arnt i smart."