Beware Of Cheap Phone Chargers? Experts Say They Can Cause Burns Or Fires

Doctors are urging people to take caution with cheap, generic phone chargers after one 19-year-old woman’s harrowing ordeal.

A new report published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine told the story of a Michigan woman admitted to University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital for burns on her neck.

The report summarizes the dangers: "Several companies have investigated the difference in quality and safety of generic versus Apple-brand chargers and have found that the majority of the generic chargers fail basic safety testing, making them a higher risk for electrical injury."

The woman said that she was sleeping with her phone nestled near her pillow and plugged into a generic phone charger when she began to feel painful burning around her neck. She was diagnosed with second-degree burns and was released from hospital after doctors tended to the wounds. Doctors deduced that the likely culprit was the cheap charger, which came in contact with the woman’s chain necklace.

The report cited another example: a Louisiana woman whose phone charger caught fire overnight, igniting her sheets and burning her arms.

Aside from these anecdotes, the report also included a study which found that over half of all generic iPhone chargers do not receive proper insulation testing. This results in fires and electrical surges even with low-voltage devices.

“Teens and adolescents are particularly at risk of injury due to their frequent mobile device use,” wrote lead author Carissa Bunke, a resident at Mott Children’s Hospital. “They should be advised to not sleep with their phones or mobile devices charging in bed and avoid leaving the charger plugged in when it is not connected to a phone.”