Counterfeit Chargers: Good For Your Wallet, But Also Might Make Your iPhone Explode

Who hasn't eyed off a fake charger before, because bargains are great? Bargains can also, apparently, heighten the risk of your gadget catching on fire.

We've heard a lot about phones exploding and/or catching fire in the past few weeks. (Samsung, we're looking at you.)

Apple has just sued Mobile Star LLC, a company which sells a range of iPhone and iPad chargers they claim are real. Turns out, they're totally not real at all.

They're laying charges against the company for trademark infringement, alleging that the firm is passing off counterfeit Apple chargers as the real thing. Apple decided to do some investigating, so they ordered around 100 charger cables from Amazon and found that more than 90 per cent of them were fake.

Apple writes, "Consumers, relying on Amazon.com's reputation, have no reason to suspect the power products they purchased from Amazon.com are anything but genuine."

"This is particularly true where, as here, the products are sold directly 'by Amazon.com' as genuine Apple products using Apple's own product marketing images."

Engineers from Apple had a look at the chargers and found that they were "poorly constructed, with inferior or missing components, flawed design, and inadequate electrical insulation." It doesn't stop there though, because the chargers also have the potential to catch fire or electrocute people. Oh...

What is it about shoddy chargers that have the potential to make your phone explode? Gizmodo experts say it's because lithium batteries (what most smartphones have) are a mess of super flammable chemicals smooshed together that are then exposed to electrical charge through electrodes.

When you start messing with chargers that don't adhere to design and safety standards, you run the risk of putting already unstable lithium batteries at a higher risk of combustion or fire.

Samsung Note7's exploding and now this? Maybe technology is finally turning on us.

Photo: PatentlyApple, iStock and Giphy