By Kang Seung-woo
Apple’s plan to sell the iPhone 8 in Korea next month is raising concerns as the U.S. company has yet to consider any safety measures amid a handful of reports of its expanding batteries.
Since the phone’s release on Sept. 22, there have been multiple reports from at least six countries, including Japan, China and the United States, that iPhone 8 batteries expanded enough to separate the screen from the device’s case.
Although Apple said earlier it was investigating the reports, there has been no follow-up.
Instead, it is set to start selling the iPhone 8 and the larger iPhone 8 Plus on Nov. 3 after receiving pre-orders through the nation’s three wireless providers starting Oct. 27.
“Despite concerns over the expanding batteries, we cannot carry out any safety test due to an insufficient supply ahead of the launch,” an official of a local telecom company said.
In addition, Apple Korea is said to have not conducted its own safety checks.
In that respect, some here have raised calls for several tests as a safety precaution before the new Apple phones go on sale.
However, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) is not authorized to do a safety check on an unreleased product.
“The KATS is closely monitoring the expanding battery case,” an official from the agency said. “As we are banned from inspecting products that are not on the market, we need to wait until the iPhones hit shelves.”
The latest iPhone may be subject to the government’s recall guideline for smartphones that was rolled out last year in the wake of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.
Last year, Samsung killed off the jumbo phone two months after its launch after some devices caught fire while charging.
According to the guideline, a smartphone maker can voluntarily recall devices when finding fault in design and production that could physically harm users.