Man Bites iPhone Battery, Exploding Battery Wins

This just in: iPhone batteries are not for biting.

Credit: Miaopai.com — (Image credit: Miaopai.com)

That's a hard-learned lesson for a man who visited a Chinese electronic store shopping for a replacement iPhone battery and decided to apply his own technologically unsound method for verifying the batteries authenticity. He placed the battery into his mouth and bit down. The result? Pop goes the battery.

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The footage, captured by the store's closed circuit TV, has been uploaded to Chinese video sharing site miaopai.com, as usually happens when there's footage of someone risking life and limb.

The Taiwan News reports that no one was injured in the resulting blast, though we suspect the intrepid shopper has lost his taste for batteries. According to the Taiwan News report, the man was shopping for a replacement battery for his iPhone.

iPhone users have been in the market for replacement batteries after Apple confirmed that it had been slowing down performance of older phones to preserve the battery life of those devices. Amid public grumbling about that revelation, Apple announced that anyone with an iPhone 6 or later would be able to get a replacement battery installed for $29 before the end of 2018.

The discounted battery replacement program has iPhone users flocking to Apple Stores for their new battery — so much so that some customers are reporting delays until the spring. If you're facing a delay, you can take matters into your own hands by turning to a third-party replacement service. Just don't be like your fellow iPhone owner in China and take matters into your own mouth.

Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.

2 Comments Comment from the forums

easeltine

I go into the Mall to the Apple Store. The line is like 2 hours long to get a new battery. So, I go to, "Mr. Phone Fixit," He replaces the older battery in my i5s in 5 minutes for $30, and guarantees that the battery he is putting in is the exact same battery that came with the phone, and the same one that Apple is putting in. I am now using the i5S as an iTouch. I now own an SE as my phone. The real problem is not the battery at all! The real problem is that the A7, and A8 processors cannot handle the new technology needed to run the new iOS 11.2.5! Replacing the battery does not give a longer battery life, and does not make the phone faster. It does give a longer life to a phone, the i5S, that I bought 1 year ago, and was made inoperable by me succumbing to trusting Apple to provide me with an iOS update that will work fine in my phone.
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easeltine

I did not bite Mr. Fixit's battery before he put it in.
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