Reports of newly launched iPhone 8 batteries swelling have been reported from China, the world’s largest smartphone market. Although these reports are as of now unconfirmed, but any truth in these reports would spell crisis for Apple’s quest to revive Iphone’s flattering sales in China.
The news of iPhone 8 batteries swelling was reported by Chinese state owned ThePaper.cn, after it cited a buyer surnamed Liu as claiming that his newly ordered iPhone 8 Plus arrived at his doorsteps cracked open. Photo displayed on ThePaper.cn’s website shows Liu’s iPhone 8 Plus being split from side, with internal parts clearly visible in the photo. The news website went on to claim that ‘bloating of battery’ may have caused this problem.
Separately, similar incidents have been reported from neighboring Japan & Taiwan, clearly signaling that big crisis may await Apple in coming days.
In response, Apple’s spokesperson said that the company is seriously looking into the matter and declined to comment further.
Apple launched Iphone 8 & Iphone 8 Plus last month with huge fanfare, clearly expecting that it would turn Iphone’s fortunes in the world’s largest smartphone market. Over the years, the Cupertino based tech giant has struggled to sell its flagship device in China due to onslaught of local manufacturers like Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi & ZTE. Not to mention Korean giant Samsung continues to breathe down Apple’s neck.
The success of Iphone 8 & Iphone 8 Plus has also become matter of huge prestige for Apple, since both these phones were launched to mark the 10th anniversary of the revolutionary Iphone.
But with reports of Iphone 8 batteries swelling hitting the global media, the big question to ask is whether Iphone 8 is going Samsung Galaxy Note 7 way. However, it is simply too early to predict such a adversarial scenario for Apple.