iPhone 3G S Batteries Overheating Has Users Hot

When it comes to the perennial issue of batteries overheating in small devices where there is smoke there is usually fire.

Apple with its wildly popular iPhone 3G S is the latest vendor to grapple with reports that batteries are overheating.

The blogosphere is burning up with a heated debate on whether the new iPhone 3G S at times is getting so hot from battery overheating that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will be forced to step in and demand a recall of thousands, tens of thousand or even hundreds of thousands of the product line.

Now, theinquirer.net is reporting that Rapid Repair, which does teardowns of iPhones, is claiming "overheating is likely an issue due to faulty battery cells" and could result in "massive recalls of iPhone 3G S units."

French site Le Journal du Geek featured a photo this week of what appears to be a scorched Apple iPhone 3G S, which the site says overheated and turned the white casing pink, or light brown from the heat. Another French site, Nowhere Else also posted images of Apple iPhone 3G S devices discolored by overheating.

Domestic users are also feeling the heat. One of the forums on Apple's Apple Discussion site indicates that a host of users' iPhones are overheating. One user said a friend's Apple iPhone 3G S "got extremely hot. He almost put it into the fridge."

It wouldn't be the first time that Apple has been forced to recall a product line due to overheating batteries. Two years ago, Apple agreed to provide free replacements of PowerPC-based notebook batteries after a recall prompted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). That Apple recall involved 1.8 million lithium-ion batteries for iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 laptops sold between October 2003 and August 2006. Those batteries cost about $130 each.

That Apple notebook recall is eerily reminiscent of the current iPhone 3G S debacle with reports surfacing of overheating. There have been a number of reports that the new iPhone 3G S gets so hot that it discolors the plastic.

Don't look for the overheating debate to be resolved any time soon. It usually takes more than sporadic reports to get the US CPSC to make a move.

Until then, look for Apple to refuse to address what has become a burning issue for potential iPhone 3G S consumers. Apple's iPhone website contains no mention of the overheating issues. Take that for what it's worth. And remember where there is smoke there is usually fire.