Apple Recalls Some AC Wall Plug Adapters Over Shock Risk

It seems that Microsoft isn’t the only major company forced to issue a recall this week. Apple sent out a message stating that some AC wall plug adapters, specifically those destined for use in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, South Korea and Continental Europe may be defective and could cause electrical shocks.

The release read, in part, “These wall plug adapters shipped with Mac and certain iOS devices between 2003 and 2015 and were also included in the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit. Apple is aware of 12 incidents worldwide.”

You can check if your adapter is one of the iffy ones thusly:

An affected two-prong plug adapter has either four or five characters or no characters on the inside slot where it attaches to the main Apple power adapter.

It’s important to note that wall plug adapters shipped to geographic regions including Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and U.S. are not affected. Still, the list of affected regions is rather large, especially considering the length of time those adapters were sold -- over the course of 12 years.

Apple advised users to stop using these plugs immediately and reach out to the company for a replacement. Hit up the recall program site at www.apple.com/support/ac-wallplug-adapter for more help and instructions on how to obtain a replacement.

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.