Apple store evacuated after iPad battery ‘explodes’

An Amsterdam Apple shop has been evacuated after an iPad reportedly exploded, releasing potentially harmful substances into the air.

Fire crews ordered shoppers and staff members to leave the building when the incident occurred yesterday afternoon, before treating three Apple employees who were having trouble breathing, the tech news website BGR reports.

The flaming iPad was placed in a sand-filled bucket to prevent any fire from spreading, but the tech site says there were no reports of smoke at the store.

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In spite of this, fire fighters opted to temporarily close the shop in order to extract “potentially harmful irritants” emitted by the faulty tablet, the BBC says. The store has since re-opened.

Although there have been no major reports of iPad batteries combusting, Apple news blog 9to5Mac says a number of incidents involving exploding iPhones have occurred in recent months.

Apple stores in Switzerland and Spain have been evacuated this year due to combusting iPhone batteries, the website says. No one was seriously injured in either incident, but some employees had “minor burns”.

These incidents come in the wake of Apple’s iPhone battery replacement programme, which came into effect in December last year following reports that the company was deliberately slowing down older phones with ageing power packs.

Apple issued an apology for slowing down older smartphones without informing buyers and halved the cost of replacement batteries to £25.