A 23-year-old Chinese woman is believed to have died when answering her iPhone while the cellphone was still charging. Ma Ailun, a flight attendant from China’s western Xinjiang region, was electrocuted when she took a call on her charging iPhone 4 on July 11, as reported by the Xinhua news agency from police reports. A statement issued by Apple said, “We are deeply saddened to learn of this tragic incident and offer our condolences to the Ma family. We will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter.” Recent investigation efforts have led officials to believe that a knock-off charger was responsible for Ma’s death. “Traces of burning” were found along the side of the iPhone 4. In an interview with Xinhua’s official news agency, phone expert Xiang Ligang said, “Cottage chargers may cut corners, the quality of the capacitor, the protection circuit is not good, leading to the breakdown of a capacitor charger, 220V AC directly into the cell phone battery inside.” Alyssa Walhood, a junior studying English from Portland, Ore., said, “She had a different charger? Wow, that’s like comparing apples and oranges.” While knockoff chargers are not new to electronic devices, this is believed to be the first death caused by a faulty charger.“I don’t normally buy cheap electronics because they usually break within the first week, but I never thought they could kill me,” said Kurt Haws, a junior from Arizona studying anthropology. In April, Apple changed iPhone warranty policies in China after getting blasted by the state-run media for providing poor after-sale service. Blake Va’aulu, a freshman studying accounting from Samoa, said, “I can’t believe she was only 23. That’s so sad. Lucky for me I have a Samsung.”
Writer: Homer Wolman & AP~Multimedia Journalist
