An iPhone user from Huntsville, Alabama, has been seriously injured by his Apple device, and you may well have seen headlines reflecting that fact. However, this isn’t Apple’s turn to take the flack for exploding batteries like EE or Samsung have been subject to, no, this iPhone debacle all stems from one man’s idiocy.
Wiley Day fell asleep with his iPhone on charge next to him in bed, because why bother to use a bedside table? The real kicker to this tale is that, after falling asleep next to his iPhone, Day was wearing a metal dog-tag necklace. When he rolled over the metal tag caught the end of the iPhone’s Lightning cable and sent an electrical charge up and around his neck.
The resulting jolt was enough to nearly kill him, throwing him from his bed to the ground. Day describes the experience as “the eeriest, darkest, and most demonic thing you could ever experience”.
image: Wiley Day/Washington Post
Day suffered second- and third-degree burns to his hands and neck where the metal chain had singed his skin. Doctors believe he was subject to around 110 volts of electricity; typically 100 volts is enough to kill.
After having learnt his lesson the hard way, Day wanted to share his message with others who sleep next to their charging phones. I admit that I, occasionally, will put my phone on charge under my pillow instead of on my bedside table, but I also don’t sleep wearing conductive items of clothing.
It’s good to see that, despite its headline-grabbing nature, this isn’t a case of another major handset exploding and harming users. No, this is a single freak accident because someone lacked some common sense. And, in case you’re wondering, Day says he now charges his iPhone in the kitchen instead of the bedroom.
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