9to5Mac has published a controversial story regarding an Apple user who was allegedly given a non-disclosure agreement following his Apple Watch Series 7 exploded from an overheating battery.
The story is controversial for several reasons, starting with Apple’s attempt to silence the user with an alleged confidentiality agreement that he would have rejected. But the headline “An Apple Watch overheats on a customer’s wrist before exploding and prompting an ER visit” is biased.
The user himself explained to 9to5Mac that he took off his watch when he noticed it was much hotter than usual. The temperature in his house was a comfortable seventy degrees, but the Apple Watch displayed a warning to shut down due to overheating. The back of the watch had cracked.
The customer contacted Apple support and a technician escalated the case. They didn’t give him a solution right away, but asked him not to touch the clock.
The next morning, the Apple Watch Series 7 was even hotter and had a cracked screen. The user ignored Apple’s recommendation and took the watch to take photos and videos. Then it began to crackle and, in the words of the user, it exploded, leaving burns on the sofa where it was located.
The reason the user went to the ER is concern that he had lead poisoning. Apple Watch doesn’t contain enough lead to cause poisoning, but lithium batteries can give off toxic gases like carbon monoxide.
According to 9to5Mac, the user contacted Apple once more, and Apple told him that his case would be given top priority, and that he would receive a response on Monday. She received it on Wednesday. Apple organized the collection of the watch to investigate the failure.
Defective or damaged lithium batteries can deflagrate. It has happened with other Apple devices, such as the case of an Australian man who sued the company because an iPhone X was burned in his pocket. But there is no reason to think, at the moment, that there are factory problems with any batch of Apple Watch Series 7, a model that was launched a year ago and for which no similar cases have emerged.
Nor is it necessary to try to silence these stories with confidentiality agreements…