Aron Embry was making a call on his Motorola Droid 2 when the phone popped loudly in his ear. When he pulled it away, he felt blood dripping from the side of his head, and noticed his phone appeared to have exploded outward, cracking the screen's glass.
The 30-year old man went to a doctor, where he received stitches but had no damage to his hearing, according to WFTS-TV in Tampa. The Droid 2 launched in August of this year and couldn't be more than a few months old, so it's hard to say what might have caused its behavior.
Motorola is staunchly denying the possibility that the phone experienced anything like an explosion. "While we haven't had to opportunity to examine the device, it appears to have a broken display," a Motorola spokesperson told Ars. "We have no reason to believe the phone 'exploded' as it is still operational and intact."
Motorola's not the first company to have a phone with possibly violent tendencies. Scattered reports of iPhone explosions have cropped up in the past, mostly in Europe, though according to Apple all investigated cases of iPhone explosions were determined to have been caused by "external force."
Motorola notes it's not aware of any similar issues and believes this to be an isolated incident, but the company has contacted Embry and plan to investigate thoroughly. We suspect Embry will be taking advantage of the speakerphone functionality provided with his next smartphone.
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