Jio Phone Reportedly Explodes, Company Says Damage Caused Intentionally

HIGHLIGHTS
Battery of the exploding phone seems to be intact
Its microUSB charging cable is also said to have melted
The Jio Phone unit exploded in Kashmir
Jio Phone is yet to become widely available for the public to purchase, but there's already an alleged case of the handset exploding. Last year, a Reliance Lyf smartphone had exploded and burst into flames too. Reports of the Jio Phone exploding come with many handset manufacturers, , including Samsung, Xiaomi, and Apple, are grappling with cases of their smartphone catching fire spontaneously. In a statement to Gadgets 360 on the matter, a Reliance Retail spokesperson said the company is aware of the incident, and found in its initial investigation that the damage has been caused by intentional sabotage. The Twitter account that first posted the image has deleted the tweet.

According to a report by technology blog Phone Radar, the Jio Phone explosion happened in Kashmir. The now-deleted image on Twitter shows the back panel of the phone has been melted but the battery underneath the casing seems to be intact. The front panel also doesn’t have any bearings of an explosion. The blog claims to have access to a photo of the phone’s charger, and its wire is supposedly also melted. Citing a Lyf distributor who checked the device, the report says the battery is remains operational.