The Sydney cyclist was then forced to undergo graft surgery after the incident, reported the Yahoo News.
Bondi mountain-biker Gareth Clear, 36, was cycling around Manly Dam on Sunday afternoon when he stacked his bike.
Mr Clear fell from his bike, landing on his iPhone 6. Moments later he noticed the smell of smoke, and felt a “searing heat”. This was all the warning he received before the phone ignited.
The explosion melted through Mr Clear’s shorts and two layers of his skin.
Following the phone burst, his upper right thigh was so severely burnt he was forced to undergo skin graft surgery at the burns unit of the Royal North Shore Hospital.
Mr Clear said he could see the metal of the phone “bending” and “all the lithium leaking out of the bottom end [of the phone].” He insisted the accident was a “one-in-a-million” occurrence.
“I hit a part of the phone which pierced the lithium battery and it exploded,” he explained.
Mr. Clear said he would request the Apple to investigate the incident.
It’s expected Mr Clear will be house bound for a week, but could take “weeks” to recover fully. The man had bought the phone around six months ago.
