iPhone 5C explodes in pocket: Man suffers second-degree burns to leg

A man from Long Island, New York was hospitalised for 10 days after his iPhone 5C blew up and burst into flames in his trouser pocket, causing him to sustain severe burns on his leg.

Erik Johnson, 29, was bending down to pick up his keys on 14 February when he felt a severe burning on his left thigh. He and his brother had just arrived at their cousin's wake in New Jersey.

"I had the phone in my pocket, simple little gesture, bent over to get keys and all I heard was pop. 'Sssssh' smoke coming out," Johnson told local TV station ABC 7.

"And just like an instant burn, my leg just starts going on fire, try to get it out, can't get it out. I was literally jumping up and down trying to get the phone out of my pocket."

Johnson had to rip his trousers off as the iPhone had melted his pockets shut. He sustained second and third-degree burns on his inner thigh and had to spend 10 days in a hospital's burn unit.

He has now been discharged, but a nurse visits his home twice a day to change his bandage.

"I just want my leg back to what it was you know?" Johnson said. "I guess, like, when you're branding a bull or something like that that's what it felt like. It really did."

CBS New York has reported that Johnson's lawyer is now looking into a lawsuit against Apple for the incident.

This is not the first time that an iPhone has been known to spontaneously combust.

In October 2014, an iPhone 6 caught fire following a rickshaw accident in Arizona, causing first-degree burns, and in 2012, CCTV footage captured an iPhone 4S catching fire spontaneously while in a man's back pocket.

Apple has told ABC 7 that is it looking into the incident. IBTimes UK has contacted Apple for comment and is waiting to hear back.