The case of the exploding iPhone

Is there trouble with Apple's hot gadgets, or are fearmongers playing up isolated incidents?

Apple's iPhones and iPods are among the "hottest tech-gadgets around," said Matt Caputo in the New York Daily News, "but in some cases, it appears, they’re just too hot." In Europe, in fact, there have been several "scary instances" in which the devices have exploded and even injured their owners.

Cut the "fearmongering," said Alex Salkever in Daily Finance. "Here's the real scoop: There are, at present, two reports of exploding iPhones. That is two reports out of 26 million phones shipped." In fact, in one of those two cases it seems that the device didn't actually explode, and may even have continued working after if went haywire.

"Apple (AAPL) is investigating," said Eric Savitz in Barron's, although the company's European Union spokesman said the reports -- including one about a French teenager who was reportedly injured after his iPhone started hissing and shattered -- were "isolated incidents." Maybe we'll know more after Apple receives the damaged gadgets from their owners.

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