Apple replacing chargers in UK after iPhone electrocution

Apple will take your knock-off charger off your hands and swap it for a new one, extending a trade-in scheme to Britain after dodgy power adaptors injured and even killed iPhone owners in other countries. And Apple will only charge you £8.

A spate of recent incidents in which unofficial chargers injured iPhone owners has prompted Apple to launch a scheme to trade in iPhone power adaptors built by other companies, swapping them for official ones.

Apple kicked off the USB Power Adaptor Takeback Programme in China, where knock-off kit is a particular problem. This Friday, the trade-in scheme is extended to Britain, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the US.

If you have a charger built by a third party -- anyone that isn't Apple -- then you can take it to an Apple Store or official Apple partner shop and swap it for an official, Apple-made charger.

You do have to pay £8 for the new charger. Normally, 5W power plugs for the iPhone and 12W iPad chargers cost £15 each. In Europe, your new charger will cost you €10.

There's been a spate of accidents and injuries lately blamed on chargers and batteries built by third-party manufacturers, affecting other phones as well as the iPhone. Samsung Galaxy phones have caught fire in Germany and Dubai, while in separate incidents in China, charging iPhones electrocuted a young bride-to-be and left another man in a coma.

Researchers also recently used a specially designed power adaptor to hack an iPhone in less than a minute.

Are cheap third-party gadgets a bargain or false economy? Is Apple kit too expensive? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or trade them in at our Facebook page.