The vulnerability was spotted when a new MRI machine disabled every single iPhone, Apple watch and iPad in a medical facility while leaving the rest of the devices untouched.
Eric Woolridge, a system administrator at Morris Hospital in Illinois, said in a detailed post on the r/sysadmin subreddit that helium was to blame for the malfunctioning iPhones.
"The MRI installation involves supercooling the giant magnet in the machine by boiling off liquid helium. This evaporated helium is usually pumped out of the facility through a vent, but this vent was leaking the helium into the rest of the facility."
More than 120 litres of helium was pumped out of the MRI room and an untold amount leaked into the rest of the hospital.
Helium atoms can wreak havoc on MEMS silicon chips. iFixit said that "MEMS are microelectromechanical systems that are used for gyroscopes and accelerometers in phones, and helium atoms are small enough to mess up the way these systems function.”
The question was why Android phones were left standing when Apple gear was turned into hyper-expensive bricks. The issue comes down to Apples clocks again. Normally Apple’s clocks suffer from software problems, but this case Apple’s Time Team defected from traditional quartz-based clocks in its phones in favour of clocks that are made of MEMS silicon.
"Given that clocks are the most critical device in any computer and are necessary to make the CPU function, their disruption with helium atoms is enough to crash the device."
To be fair to Apple the likelihood of its gear being crashed by exposure to helium is remote, but the image of an Apple fanboy trying to convince his overpriced bricked machine is superior to a working android device in the voice of Mickey Mouse is amusing.
The Clocks don’t work
(apologies to the Verve )
All your talk is getting high-pitched
And its it's getting me down, fanboy
Like nail on a blackboard
A high-pitched wine
But this time I'm right[Verse 2]
And I hope you're thinking of me
As you chuck your phone away
Now you clock doesn’t don't work
And it makes you curse
But I know you will buy Apple again[Chorus]
Now you clock doesn’t don't work
And it makes you curse
But I know you will buy Apple again[Verse 3]
I know you are on a losing streak
As you passed a helium leak
And if I want to show
That your iPhone blows
I'll sing falsetto again[Chorus]
Now you clock doesn’t don't work
And it makes you curse
But I know you will buy Apple again