An atypical and quite interesting story. A helium leak took place in one of Chicago’s hospitals, probably due to a malfunction of an MRI scan device. Thankfully the leak has proven to be harmless to hospitalized as well as personnel… but not so much to their Apple devices. Most of Apple’s devices in the hospital turned off and refused to turn back on; some of them did not respond when connected to a charger; some worked but their touch screens did not respond to touch. Most of the devices begun to work properly again after a few days, although one iPhone suffered major internal damage. Interestingly, iPhone 5 suffered no ill effects of helium, while every newer Apple device have. Afterwards, Fixit company conduted research on the matter and produced a number of theories as to what happened. The first theory is that the microelectromechanics inside affected devices, gyroscopes and accelerators and the like. After getting in contact with them, helium changed their atomic structure, causing detrimental vibrations. Another theory is that the vitreous oscillator got damaged in contact with helium.

Apple has acknowledged the issue but said there is nothing it can do. For once, I believe them. It is difficult to prepare your device for every possible malfunction, and contact with high density helium is rare to say the least.