It isn’t often that Apple, the world’s most valuable company, makes a mistake. But that’s exactly what happened Wednesday after it was forced to recall its Beats Pill XL speaker after a number of reports of overheating and a case in which a customer suffered a minor burn.
The Chinese manufactured speaker retails for a whopping $325 and now poses a potential fire hazard due to a faulty battery.
Apple promised a full refund to any U.S. or Canadian customers who return the item.
It will accept returns at either its retail stores or provide postage-paid boxes for consumers to send their defective speakers back to the company.
The issue affects a massive 233,000 units sold in North America through Apple’s retail and online stores and via Beatsbydre.com. The units would have been purchased between January 2014 to the present date.
The U.S. consumer product safety commission released the following statement:
This recall involves all Beats Pill XL portable, wireless speakers. The recalled products are plastic, capsule-shaped speakers about 4 inches tall by 13 inches wide by 4 inches deep with a plastic mesh grille on the front and a built-in carrying handle to the rear.
The small “b” Beats logo is on the grille and “beatspillXL” is on the handle. The speakers come in five colours: black, white, pink, metallic sky and titanium.
Apple acquired Beats from popular rapper Dr Dre in 2014 for $3 billion.
The company said in a statement that customer safety was its “top priority” and asked Apple fans “to stop using their Beats Pill XL speakers.”
The cost of the error could amount to $120 million and is a rare case in which Apple doesn’t get it right.
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