Photo shows why iPhone 15 series owners need to use a genuine Apple or Apple-certified (MFi) charger

Hey, here's a picture you don't see much on social media. On Reddit, subscriber NoisilyMarvellous posted a photo showing what happened when his iPhone 15 Pro Max overheated so much, it melted the plastic on the charging cable. As the poster wrote, "I knew the iPhone 15 Pro Max gets hot, but a month into use mine got so hot while charging overnight that it literally left a burn on my finger. When I took the charger off, it had melted some of the plastic, left burn marks on the body and stuck the metal part of the USB-C port into the phone."

The Redditor also posted some questions such as "How can I remove this? Also, is this a problem of the phone, the charging cable or the plug? I have had Optimised Charging switched on. I don’t have AppleCare, is this something Apple will fix?" First of all, we'd suggest that a trip to the Apple Store or an Apple-certified repair center be made before you attempt to pull out the cord. Was the charging cable a certified MFi accessory, a leftover cable from another device, or a USB-C cable purchased at a gas station?

This is the reason why Apple will always recommend one of its charging cables or an MFi cable for the iPhone. You might not want to pay what Apple and MFi manufacturers want for the product, but the standards are much higher and it is a matter of safety. The phone owner did burn his thumb but it could have been even worse. Recently Apple warned Apple Watch owners not to use anything other than authentic and certified Apple Watch chargers.

With the switch to USB-C charging on the iPhone this year from Apple's proprietary Lightning charger, many iPhone users might have decided that it was okay to use cheap USB-C cables that they had lying around the house from older electronic devices. While Apple did include a durable, braided cable in the box with the iPhone 15 series, some users like to have additional cables at other locations where they charge their phone, like at the office. That is where an iPhone 15 series owner might try to get away with using a sub-standard USB-C cord. Don't give in to that temptation.

At this point, the iPhone 15 Pro Max in the photo could be unsafe to use although it could still be charged using a MagSafe wireless charger. But the part of the charging cable still stuck in the phone (we don't know if the heat welded it to any internal parts) still looks pretty dicey at best and to reiterate, we'd bring this unit to the closest Apple Store or certified repair shop before fooling around with it.