Most devices that use lithium-ion batteries run the risk of exploding, and we’re no strangers to these occurrences. Several people are reporting that the pricey Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS earbuds are exploding randomly.
Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be widespread. More importantly, there aren’t any reports of injuries. As you can imagine, a device that’s meant to be in your ear exploding could really cause some issues.
The Sony WF-1000XM4 are exploding randomly
These reports come to us from Reddit (via Android Police). A Redditor (r/yangcong1982) posted a picture of their buds. The left one was alright, but the right one was broken at the seam. We see that it was completely broken in half with the internals exposed.
They also complained of battery issues with the right bud. The battery would die instantly when it dipped between 20% and 40% battery power. Then, it got to the point when the earbud couldn’t even hit 50% before dying instantly.
They did state that they left the earbuds in the charging case for two solid days before the incident. However, they charged the case using an Anker charging bank. The earbuds remained at 80%, so they weren’t overcharged.
Going by the image alone, it’s hard to tell if the Redditor is telling the truth. We don’t see the usual signs of an explosion: broken chassis, warped plastic, burn marks, etc. However, there is another report that corroborates this story.
The issue might be in the software
The user was using firmware version 1.4.2 for their earbuds. This is significant because this version was notorious for battery issues. Several users on that version reported issues with the battery along with the headphones overheating. The company has since patched the issue, the Redditor was still on that version.
Thankfully, the earbuds didn’t explode while in use. We’re not sure if the user is going to pursue any sort of legal action for this.
2023-02-25 15:06:09