Speaking exclusively to ABC sister station WABC-TV, Abd Ghaith said he was texting a friend when his phone suddenly blew up in his hands.
"I received a message. I answered the message. I put the phone on the charger and then as I'm holding the phone, it started like a little smoke coming out of the left side of the phone. And then when I pulled the case back to see what it was, the phone literally just exploded," Ghaith said.
It happened Friday morning at his grocery store in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.
He said all of a sudden the screen went black, and then it got so hot, he said, it charred his thumb.
He added that the phone was so hot it burned a mark into the floor after he dropped it.
Ghaith said the phone was smoking for 20 more minutes.
All he is looking for now is a replacement phone, at no cost.
"My biggest concern is I'm happy it was a text message and not a call. Because if I had it to my ear and it happened, it probably would have burned off my face," Ghaith said.
In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said: "Apple takes customer care and their safety very seriously. We will analyze the device."