Report: A Woman In China Was Allegedly Electrocuted By Answering Her iPhone While It Was Charging

ImgurA lot of media outlets are reporting that a Chinese woman was allegedly killed after answering a call while her iPhone was charging, including one report from the Wall Street Journals' China Realtime Report blog.

Most of the details are pretty sketchy. The police haven't confirmed the cause of death, though one policeman said that her neck "had an obvious electronic injury" and it looked, on first inspection, as if she was electrocuted.

Police haven't released other details, such as what model of iPhone she was using, or what kind of charger she was using. The China Consumers’ Association had recently warned consumers about uncertified power chargers on the market (here's the press release in Chinese). The association's press releases said that if someone answered the phone and an uncertified charger was faulty, it could result in electrocution.

It's also possible that the woman was wet when answering the phone, some reports indicate.

Experts say that the odds of someone being electrocuted by a smartphone, even while charging, is extremely low because certified phone chargers that use a USB cord are about 5 volts, not enough to severely harm a person, reports CNN's Brandon Griggs.

Apple told the China Realtime blog that it offers its condolences to the woman's family and, "We will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter.”