Apple to investigate death of iPhone 5 user

[The Straight Story]

Apple will investigate the cause of a Chinese woman's death, the company confirmed to Reuters on Monday.

Last week, Ma Ailun, a 23-year-old woman from China's Xinjiang region, was allegedly electrocuted when she answered a call on her iPhone 5 while it was charging, according to the China-based Xinhua news agency.

In an e-mailed statement to Reuters on Monday, an Apple spokesperson said the company is "deeply saddened to learn of this tragic incident and offer our condolences to the Ma family." Apple "will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter," the company told Reuters.

Reports of malfunctioning smartphones have cropped up from time to time. Occasionally, people will post pictures of a burnt smartphone or burns they got when handling a device. In some cases, however, the reason for the problem is not the device itself.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57593710-37/apple-to-investigate-death-of-iphone-5-user/

[hunter]

1. Bad charger. Entirely possible.

The "hot" 220 Volt side of the charging circuit may have somehow got shorted to the USB "ground."

I've seen a few sketchy "wall wart" power supplies, many of them Chinese.

The worst problem is cheap-ass manufacturers substituting ordinary capacitors for more expensive A.C. line rated capacitors, followed by other less expensive but unsafe components.

[jmowreader]

3. Especially possible, if there's no isolation transformer in there

There are two basic kinds of transformers: isolation transformers and autotransformers.

An isolation transformer has two coils in it, and powerline voltage is stepped down via magnetic field.
An autotransformer has one coil in it, which is tapped to produce the voltages you need. This is cheaper, but if the insulation on the coil goes bad, the input voltage will appear on the output side of it - NOT what you want.

[quinnox]

2. jesus, So these things can kill you now

must be a feature. I don't want an iphone, and won't be getting one any time soon.

[Lancero]

4. I already know what caused it.

Made in China

Shoddy safety standards on a lot of products, more concerned about making things cheap instead of safe or reliable.