Now, a Reliance JioPhone explodes; company suspects ‘intentional sabotage’

A user in Kashmir on Sunday reported that his Reliance JioPhone exploded while charging. According to the images shared by the user on Twitter (now deleted), the back panel of the smart feature phone was severely damaged while the front excluding the display has remained intact.

Reliance Jio, however, responded to the report stating their preliminary investigation suggests the phone was intentionally damaged.

"JioPhones are designed and manufactured with global standards, and each phone goes through stringent quality control process. The said incident has been reported to us. Our initial investigation suggests that this is a case of intentional sabotage," a Reliance Retail spokesperson said.

"The incident, as well as its timing, has been designed by vested interests to malign the brand. We will take appropriate action based on further investigations."

Earlier, technology blog PhoneRadar, which first reported about the incident, said that the charger of the smart feature phone had also melted. Citing a LYF distributor, the blog reports that the battery of the phone was still working.

The latest incident of a Reliance JioPhone unit allegedly exploding comes after multiple incidents of smartphones across brands catching fire. Last week, a Samsung Galaxy J smartphone of a passenger caught fire during a Delhi-Indore Jet Airways flight.

Earlier this month, a Samsung Grand Duos phone exploded in a man's shirt pocket in Indonesia. The phone, however, did not have a genuine Samsung battery.

"We sincerely wish for our customer's swift recovery, and strongly recommend all our consumers to use Samsung's genuine or approved batteries that have been specifically designed for use in Samsung products," the Korean company said in a statement.