Man Bites iPhone Battery Sparking Lithium-Flavored Explosion In His Mouth

If you have ever wondered why some products contain warning labels that anyone with a lick of common sense would already know, get a load of this—an iPhone user in China was shopping for a new battery when he decided to put a potential replacement in his mouth, and bite down on it. The battery then exploded in his face, with the incident captured on the electronics store's CCTV camera.

Why would he do that? We are pretty sure it wasn't for nourishment. A local media report surmises he was trying to test the battery's authenticity or durability, maybe because there is a difference in how legitimate batteries and third-party knock-offs feel in the mouth. Or maybe they explode differently. We have no idea, and quite frankly, can't think of a good reason to bite down on a lithium-ion battery pack.


Then again, we don't condone munching on laundry detergent capsules either, but the Tide Pod challenge has people doing it anyway, much to the chagrin of Tide, poison control centers, and my buddy Eddie who asked, "What the hell is wrong with people, man?" Good question, Eddie, and unfortunately we don't have an answer.

Fortunately no one was injured during the battery debacle, even though the video shows the explosion engulfing both the man who bit down on the battery and a woman who was standing opposite of him.

"The battery is not gold, why are you biting it?," a netizen joked about the incident. Another one asked tongue in cheek, "So the question is, is this Apple battery delicious?"

It's always a good idea to use an authentic battery whenever possible, as counterfeits can be of questionable quality. And when you are dealing with lithium-ion batteries, there is the risk of overheating and catching fire. Not that authentic batteries are immune to this—just ask Samsung—but there is a lot of testing that goes into the batteries that companies like Apple use in their mobile products. And in case it needs mentioning, under no circumstances should anyone bite down on a battery, ever.

This incident follows Apple's recent admission that its iPhone devices throttle performance when the battery degrades to a certain point. The ensuing uproar prompted Apple to temporarily drop the price of a replacement battery to $29 (down from $79). Apple is also working on a toggle in a future iOS release that will allow users to prevent their phone from throttling.

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