Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said iPhones turned in by customers in France and elsewhere in Europe with shattered screens showed outside pressure caused the cracking.

Apple is investigating reports by customers across Europe that their iPhone smart phones overheated and burned them, and in some cases exploded. The company has asked people to turn in the devices in question so they can be studied.

“In all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone,” Alan Hely, a London-based spokesman for Apple Europe, said in an e-mail. “There are no confirmed battery overheating incidents for iPhone 3GS and the number of reports we are investigating is in the single digits.”

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, has sold 26 million iPhones since introducing the product in 2007. France was one of four markets where it introduced its newest model of the multimedia mobile phone, the iPhone 3GS, this summer. Europe accounts for about a fifth of Apple’s revenue.

French Trade Minister Herve Novelli today met with Michel Coulomb, Apple’s French marketing director, in Paris about an investigation by the country’s consumer protection agency into the iPhone “implosions,” according to a statement from the Finance Ministry. A representative at the ministry declined to comment on the meeting.

The European Union asked the company 10 days ago for information on the safety of its iPhone and iPod products after reports that they overheated or exploded.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Smith in Paris at hsmith26@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 28, 2009 09:57 EDT