Apple Inc. Launches iPhone 6 And iPhone 6 Plus In China (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese techies have become wary of foreign brands of smartphones. Their concern is over two of the biggest brands in the global mobile phone market – Samsung and Apple.
Reuters reported that the distrust stems from Samsung’s recall of its Galaxy Note 7 phones whose batteries explodes. They are also not trusting of Apple’s smartphones because of eight battery fires involving Apple’s iPhone 6.
On Friday, the Shanghai Consumer Council issued a report that provides details on battery fires of iPhone 6. It includes complaints of iPhone 6 units powering down before the battery’s depletion. These units were not part of the iPhone 6 global recall range that the Cupertino-based giant announced on Nov. 20 to address the problem.
An Apple spokeswoman said the cause of the battery fires were external physical damage to the iPhone 6 before the battery burnt. But Apple is expanding its probe into the powering down problem.
Fortune, however, reported that the power-down issue could affect iPhone 6s manufactured outside the initial September-October 2015 time frame as the manufacture dates of the susceptible batch. Apple admitted a small number of phone owners outside the susceptible batch have also complained of their smartphones suddenly shutting down even if the battery still has some juice left.
Apple blamed the problem on a bug, the exposure of a battery component to “controlled ambient air longer than it should have been” prior to assembly. It is not a safety issue, the phone giant said. The large number of complaints from iPhone 6 owners filed with the China Consumers Association in November led to offer of free battery replacements for affected units, but limited to those in the susceptible batch.
To further address the problem, Apple said it would incorporate additional diagnostic capabilities as part of its information-gathering initiative, in an iOS software update it would release next week.
According to the Shanghai Consumer Council report, while Samsung recalled 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 units in October and November, complaints against Apple gadgets also went up to 2,763 or almost twice the number of complaints for the same period in 2015.
