The Moto E3 Power emits smoke after 20 minutes of charging. (Sachin Yadav)
A Motorola phone apparently blew up after it was put on charging, its user Sachin Yadav from Haryana said on Wednesday.
The Moto E Power was on the charger for 20 minutes, Yadav said, posting a video of the phone emitting smoke. Motorola has said that it launched an investigation into the matter.
This comes close after several prominent manufacturers faced similar complaints. Recently, a Samsung, Xiaomi and a Reliance Jio phone had battery issues that led to a fire.
Yadav said he had purchased the phone on September 20, 2016 from Flipkart and used a genuine charger. He also said that he had contacted the customer care to inform about the incident but they only asked for picture of the phone and damaged property and that there was no response.
“It happened on the October 24 morning. I had charged the phone up to 80% through Moto charger then put it on the table and I started watching TV… then suddenly smoke appeared from Moto E. I recorded the video using my wife’s phone,” he told Hindustan Times.
“I called the customer care and told them about it. They registered a complaint, and after 2 hours they called me again and asked me to send a picture of the phone on their email id. After that, I have not received any call or mail. I have tweeted several times to their page but no response,” he added.
The image shared by him shows the device battery damaged with back panel split into two. The damage appears to have affected the bottom part (where the charging port is) of the device.
Motorola says it has reached out to the customer and is conducting a probe.
“We are contacting the customer and investigating the situation. Motorola batteries are tested in our own labs, in addition to official certification which is performed at third party labs, consistent with industry practice. The internal testing provides an additional level beyond industry standards. Additionally, we work directly with our suppliers to ensure manufacturing testing, materials, and design consistently produce high quality batteries,” said a company spokesperson.
The latest incident of a smartphone catching fire comes two days after a user in Kashmir claimed that his Reliance JioPhone had exploded. The company, however, said that their initial investigation showed the phone was intentionally sabotaged.
“The incident, as well as its timing, has been designed by vested interests to malign the brand. We will take appropriate action based on further investigations,” said a Reliance Retail spokesperson.
Last week, a Samsung Galaxy J smartphone of a passenger caught fire during a Delhi-Indore Jet Airways flight. Earlier this month, a Samsung Grand Duos phone exploded in a man’s pocket in Indonesia. It was later learnt that the smartphone, however, did not have a genuine Samsung battery.
[“Source-hindustantimes”]
