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4th January 2018
11:21am GMT
You might have been lucky enough to get a new phone for Christmas as a present or better yet, you might have had enough funds in your bank account to treat yourself.
When a new phone is bought, the old one - no matter how new it may still be - is normally cast to one side as the effort of trying to sell it off is just too much hassle sometimes.
As well as this, we like to keep the old one as a back-up in case anything happens to the new one.
Well, Dublin Fire Brigade has issued a rather scary message about any old phones you might have lying around in the house.
Got a new phone for #Christmas ? Maybe recycle or pass on your old phone? This phone was recharged after being left idle & you can see the battery has begun to swell. If a phone hasn't been used in a while, it might be better to dispose of it safely pic.twitter.com/WPubsQtcAe
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) January 3, 2018
The tweet reads: "Got a new phone for #Christmas ? Maybe recycle or pass on your old phone? This phone was recharged after being left idle & you can see the battery has begun to swell. If a phone hasn't been used in a while, it might be better to dispose of it safely".
The swelling in the battery can lead to it bursting and exploding. The phenomenon of battering explosions has only come about in recent years as phone companies try to push technology to the limit.
As screens get bigger and phones become more powerful, they need more energy but alongside this, people want to still have a strong battery life and charging speed.
This puts a lot of strain on the 'lithium-ion' battery and when out of use for a long time and then suddenly recharged - as pointed out by DFB - the pressure can get too much for the battery causing it too swell and explode.
As most batteries nowadays are inside the phone, it's impossible to tell if a battery is swelling or not.
So, while it's good to recycle newer models of phones if at all possible, if you can't find a buyer, it's probably best to dispose of the phone entirely.
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