OnePlus Nord 2 charger explodes for no apparent reason; company pins the blame on voltage fluctuations

Over the past few months, instances of electronic gadgets exploding emerged far too often. We've seen smartphones, fitness trackers, and even earbuds spontaneously combust for no apparent reason. While most of the incidents have been isolated, one smartphone has had the dubious distinction of exploding a few times too many: the OnePlus Nord 2. This time around, however, it was the included Wrap charger that went up in flames and not the actual smartphone itself.

OnePlus Nord 2 user Jimmy Jose took to Twitter to highlight his woes. He claims that the phone was not plugged into the charger at that time. Based on the pictures that he provided, we can see that the charger is toast, and it took the electrical socket with it. The image also tells us that the charger wasn't plugged into the wall directly but via an adapter. OnePlus support was quick to reply to the Tweet and offered the user a replacement charger for free.

OnePlus also sent over a representative to investigate the cause, which was determined to be voltage fluctuation. While that is a plausible explanation, it doesn't add up. Voltage fluctuations are pretty common in India, and smartphone chargers are mostly unaffected by them. There is practically no current flowing through a charger when it isn't connected to a smartphone. The circuit gets completed only when a smartphone is connected. A foreign object may have tricked the charger into thinking that the circuit is complete, resulting in the explosion.

It is also worth noting that most modern-day smartphone chargers, especially the high-wattage ones, have robust overcurrent protections baked into them. Given the number of variables and the limited information about the matter, it is hard to pinpoint the explosion's cause. In all likelihood, it could be due to the mix of a bad charger, voltage fluctuations and a dodgy adapter.

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