Yiyi Huang, a toddler in China is currently under intensive care as she suffered serious injuries when her smartwatch exploded while she was playing with her cousin.
4-year old Yiyi lives in the city of Quanzhou in the Chinese province of Fujian with her grandmother.
According to Yiyi’s grandmother, she heard a loud bang followed by her screaming sounds, then immediately ran into the room where the children were playing, she then noticed it was covered with dark smoke with a burning smell permeating the air.
After a while, she discovered that the smoke continued to emanate from the smart watch, that was still attached to Yiyi’s wrist.
Yiyi was treated for third-degree burns to the back of her hand after she went through a skin graft procedure.
Then we begin to wonder what may have triggered such explosion?
In recent times, Smart watch manufacturers have improved in the quality of their designs, with their products and batteries way better than it was in the past.
The companies took a step further in educating members of the public about dangers of using cheap third-party charging gear.
Yiyi’s grandmother was distraught as she gave a very horrific account of the sad event that fateful day but she is hopeful her grandchild would recover.
Yiyi’s father, Huang while relating the account of the incident said:
“After seeing the child’s burn injuries, my family was very distressed.”
The skin grafting process is said to reduce the risk of infection. Yiyi is currently in hospital under observation following the procedure.
Smartwatch explosions are rare and a most recent one took place in 2017 when a Fitbit Flex 2 exploded on the wrist of a girl named Dina Mitchell while she was reading a book. She also was later treated for second-degree burns as the device was said to have partially melted on her wrist. The company, which is now owned by Google parent Alphabet, offered the victim a replacement unit.
After an investigation, no malfunction on the part of its device was detected.
Fitbit spokesman said days after the incident;
“Based on our initial investigation, including testing of her device by a leading third-party failure analysis firm, we have concluded that Ms. Mitchell’s Fitbit Flex 2 did not malfunction. The testing shows that external forces caused the damage to the device.”
Ayoola Faseyi, an Abuja based Journalist with interest in Technology and Politics. He is a versatile writer with articles in many renowned News Journals.
He is the Co-Founder of media brand, The Vent Republic.
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