SMOKING AN iPHONE 7

The images and video of a burning iPhone 7 Plus is raising questions about the safety of the iconic Apple smartphone. The 21-second video was shared on Wednesday by Brianna Olivas, 18, from Tuscon, Arizona. In it, smoke can be seen coming out of the left side of the phone with the bezel and case both melting. The clip has so far been viewed more than one million times and clocked up 24,000 retweets and 26,000 likes. Photos taken after the incident by Ms Olivas reveal the phone's screen detached from the battery with a completely melted side bezel. Image copyright Twitter/@briannaolivas_ She explained later on Twitter that she was asleep while her device caught fire and her boyfriend moved it away from her. Ms Olivas told the press ."I realized there was a problem a day before it blew up. It would not turn [on] so I took it into a store and they were able to get the phone on and they ran diagnostics and said nothing was wrong with the phone." She said the phone, which she had bought in early January, was on the bed next to her head. Her boyfriend moved the phone to the dresser, before noticing something was wrong. "From the corner of his eye he saw the phone smoking and heard a squealing noise coming from it. He quickly ran over to the phone but by the time he got there it had already caught fire, he didn't have enough time to throw it out the front door so he quickly threw it in the restroom." Ms Olivas added that Apple has replaced her phone and the case. "They said they had never seen anything like this before." Back in December last year eight cases of iPhone 6 combustions were reported in China. Apple said the battery explosions were caused by "external factors" and there was no "cause for concern". Although the cause of the new incident is yet to be known, there is no indication that there is a widespread problem with iPhone handsets. A spokesperson told Mashable that the firm was "looking into it". The Apple Support account seemed to be aware of the video and got in touch with Ms Olivas. There were other users who reported similar cases of their phones "blowing up", although none of these claims can be verified. ***prbxselfnetwork***