Apple investigating reports woman killed while answering recharging iPhone 5

[Doc Holliday]

Apple Inc. is investigating an accident in which a Chinese woman was killed by an electric shock when answering a call on her iPhone 5 while it was charging, the U.S. technology company said on Monday.

Last Thursday, Ma Ailun, a 23-year-old woman from China’s western Xinjiang region and a flight attendant with China Southern Airlines, was electrocuted when she took a call on the charging mobile telephone, the official Xinhua news agency quoted police as saying on Sunday.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of this tragic incident and offer our condolences to the Ma family. We will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter,” Apple said in an e-mail.

Apple declined to comment on details, such as whether this was an isolated case.

Ma’s sister tweeted on Sina’s microblog saying that Ma collapsed and died after using her charging iPhone 5 and urged users to be careful, a message that went viral on the site.

In April, Apple apologized to Chinese consumers and altered iPhone warranty policies in its second-biggest market after its after-sales service suffered more more than two weeks of condemnation by the state-run media.

Woman reportedly killed while answering recharging iPhone 5

 

[nounours_]

Was she taking a bath or what?

 

[EagerBeaver]

She may have snatched it up and answered it while in the shower, if it was charging in the bathroom. I see a lot of people that are glued to their iPhones, and this is a wakeup call that you cannot stay attached at all times.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I have a car charger for my iPhone. By the ways, my iPhone is encased in a rubber Otterbox. If she had an Otterbox and it was hooked up to the illegal charger, I wonder if she would have been spared the shock. She touched the phone while it was charging and it was not encased, so she touched live metal. I am also surprised that a typical charger with 220 volts would be sufficient to electrocute her to death. I would have suspected she just would get a real good shock. But it is the current, not the voltage that kills you, from what I read.

 

[Special K]

I think this is a case for Eagerbeaver, Dewey, Cheatham & Howe! Lol.

 

[oldbutartful]

MB is correct it is the current that kills however the human body has a high resistance when the skin is dry, so a high voltage is usually required.
If the skin is wet then te body resistance is very low and according to the Health and Safety board voltages over 70v can kill.
Which is why the use of rechargable power tools is becoming more popular.
If you touch the contacts on a 9v battery with your tongue you will get quite a jolt.
A fault with a mains powered charger can give the full mains voltage to the cell phone casing. 220 volts is enought to kill for certain.

 

[sweetwater]

It is unfortunate that anyone gets killed or injured, especially by something like a cell phone charger. I'm not an electrical engineer or anything like that, but it seems that the charger would have to been faulty, because, unless logic thought defies the truth, the charger that plugs into the wall transforms the 220 volts into an electrical current the iPhone can use to charge its battery, whatever the voltage of that battery is. I don't know about Chinese iPhones but, since they are all made in China, why would Chinese iPhones have a 220 volt battery? I've been on many airplanes, mostly Air Canada, where there are a lot of Chinese and other peoples from other countries, who charge their iPhones, and other cellphones, with the USB outlet on the seat backs. I would think that iPhones worldwide are capable of being charged in an automobile with a 12 or 24 volt charging system, that the unfortunate incident has to be linked to the charger, whether that charger is illegal or not.
IPhones world wide can't have that different of a battery from one country to the next.
I'll stand to be corrected, but this seems the most logical.
Sweetwater

 

[EagerBeaver]

The woman was electrocuted because she touched live metal and was grounded. If she had an Otterbox which is a rubber casing for the phone, she likely would not have been shocked and would still be with us today. I would never have touched metal that is charging, and there is no need to because you can charge the phone while it is in the rubber Otterbox casing. I actually rarely take my phone out of the case, because there are holes in the Otterbox through which I can stick the charger.

 

[sweetwater]

no phone has a 220v battery.i...

That's my point. The battery in the iPhone can't have enough voltage to give you a micro-shock, much less electrocute you. The problem lies with the faulty charger.
Sweetwater