My old iPhone 4 battery swelled up last week...

I kept using my iPhone 4 as a music player in the car. Last Thursday I went to grab it and the screen was popping off the frame. The battery had ballooned up and cracked the back glass. I'm lucky it didn't catch fire sitting in my cup holder. Has anyone else dealt with old lithium batteries bulging on their vintage gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakota4791d ago

Wait, actually you had an iPhone 4, not a 4s right? Those didn't have a back glass panel, the whole back was just one piece of aluminum or plastic depending on the model. The 4s was the one with the glass back that cracked easy. Not trying to be that guy, just saying you probably had a 4s if the back glass cracked. Either way yeah those old lithium batteries are ticking time bombs once they start swelling. I pulled a bulging battery out of an old iPod classic last month and it was scary how puffy it was.

thea6921d ago

Oh man, you're totally right about the back panel thing, I forgot the 4 had that solid back. But here's the thing nobody's mentioning with those old iPhones - even the 4s had that glass back that was basically a design nightmare waiting to happen the second you dropped it. And honestly, the bulging battery problem is worse than people think because it's not just about the phone, it's about what happens when you leave it in a drawer for years and it suddenly decides to expand. I had a friend who found an old iPod in his garage and the battery had swollen so bad it pushed the screen clean out of the frame, which is terrifying if you think about it. Lithium batteries are no joke once they get that old, especially if you're like me and just shove old tech in a box and forget about it.