Over the past week, reports of the iPhone 8 swelling have been emerging online. It started with two iPhone 8 Plus users in Japan and Taiwan. The total number of reports for the iPhone 8 duo swelling has now reached six, and has occurred in at least five countries including Hong Kong, Canada and Greece. Apple hasn’t disclosed much on the matter, but has released a statement saying, “We are aware and looking into it.”
Although the number of defected units is only six, the issue is seen closely since the incidents occurred within a week of the iPhone 8’s commercial release. Tracing back to the first report, an iPhone 8 Plus user in Taiwan tweeted photos of the device swelling up in the middle while charging. This happened after five days of purchasing the iPhone 8 Plus. According to The Next Web, Apple has recovered the affected iPhone 8 Plus. As for the iPhone 8 Plus user in Japan, the device arrived split open in the box itself.
A similar trend followed with users from Hong Kong, Greece and Canada reporting similar situations where the device is split open. An analyst via The Verge says that a new smartphone battery swelling seems quite unusual, and that it could be due to some risks taken during manufacturing. It could be so that manufacturers now face limitations with lithium-ion batteries, and end up developing batteries with more power but with risks of short circuit. 
There were cases in the past of iPhones catching fire. Although there haven’t been any reports of the iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus exploding, the risks aren’t ignored though. Especially with the havoc caused by Samsung last year as theGalaxy Note 7’s faulty batteries caused overheating and explosions in multiple cases. Samsung’s widespread chaos of the Galaxy Note 7’s battery exploding has brought every small matter of defected smartphones into the limelight. Apple is yet to release a statement on what the cause is behind the swelling up of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.