Apple issues voluntary recall to replace faulty chargers

Jan 29, 2016 09:42 GMT  ·  By

Apple has just announced a voluntary recall of certain iPhone and Mac wall plug adapters sold between 2003 and 2015, which could pose a risk of electrical shock.

Although the recall concerns chargers sold in the last 12 years, Apple explains that the electrical shock can happen in “very rare” cases, but the company is anyway agreeing to change those that might pose such a risk.

“Customer safety is always Apple's top priority, and we have voluntarily decided to exchange affected wall plug adapters with a new, redesigned adapter, free of charge. We encourage customers to exchange any affected parts using the process below,” Apple says.

Regions where the adapter was sold

United States customers, as well as those in the United Kingdom, China, and Japan, who purchased an iPhone or Mac during the said period are not included in the recall unless they got the World Travel Adapter Kit. On the other hand, customers in a wide variety of markets, including Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Argentina and Brazil, might have gotten a wall plug adapter that could break and thus create a risk of electrical shock, Apple warns.

In order to determine whether your charger is affected by the recall or not, you only have to check the inside slot of the adapter and look for the manufacturing code. If it has 4 or 5 characters or no characters on the inside slot where it attaches to an Apple power adapter, as Cupertino explains, then the chances are that it’s a faulty adapter.

If what you see is a region code such as EUR, BRA, KOR, ARG, or AUS, then you’re on the safe side because redesigned adapters do not pose such a risk.

Users who want to exchange an adapter with a new one as part of this recall process can do it at the Apple Store, contact Apple Support, or fill in a form here.