A OnePlus One owner had a rather unsavoury experience with his phone, last Friday. New Delhi resident Ankur Dugar had put his phone on charge before going to bed. He woke up to a burning smell at around 9 o’clock in the morning, and found his phone on fire. He explained how he had been lucky to have escaped a worse tragedy. He shared the photos of the charred remains of his OnePlus One on Facebook, that evening.
It is quite evident from the photographs that the cause of the explosion was either from battery, or failure in the SoC. The rear end has been charred, and there is a big circular burn mark in the front. On contacting OnePlus customer care, he received a rather nonchalant reply, “Go to service centre, if your replacement is approved, you’ll get a replacement.” He received a further reply that said, “Nothing can be done more than replacement.” Dugar is reportedly consulting an attorney and is yet to take his device to the service center for replacement.
This is definitely not the first time that OnePlus One users had such a blazing experience with their devices. Last year, an owner had reported receiving minor burns after his phone exploded in his pocket in a subway. In a statement, Director of OnePlus Global had said, “Our products undergo extremely rigorous testing, and this is the first time anything like this has happened. We take this issue very seriously. We will send MiyZu a new phone and also reimburse him for the damage to his jeans and phone case, as well as any medical costs associated with this accident.”
Most modern mobile devices use Lithium-ion or Lithium-polymer batteries. Despite being quite safe, manufacturing defects and external factors may sometimes cause unfavourable chemical reactions, causing the batteries to explode. Overheating of the SoC has also been known to cause devices to catch fire. To prevent such mishaps, it is advisable to not over-charge the devices. To avoid any serious bodily harm or injury in such cases, it is better not to keep phones charging on/by the bed. In any case, it seems that OnePlus has a lot of explaining to do.