Just out of the iPhone 5 owners in the world finding this very thread on this forum, appr. 788 users (so far) got scuffed phones out of the box (and if any of these got several scuffed ones, they still just count as one in the survey). This leads me to believe that there are a tad more than a few hundred phones with a problem out there (if a scuffed phone out of the box is concidered a problem that is).
But I agree that its very likely that the vast majority out there have no problems (if the crappy maps are not considered a problem that is )
Something to think about though is that if someone has a problem the first thing they do is go to the internet. When you just google "iphone 5 nicks" macrumors is one of the first links. It is not like people are just happening to stumble across these forums....and I would venture to say a TON of those 788's are new users.
Here's mine. 1.5 months of use - slight nicks on the backside (last 2 pics):
View attachment 383000
View attachment 383001
View attachment 383002
View attachment 383003
View attachment 383004
I would say that is exactly how mine looks and I got it at launch. A few very small speckles that someone would have to look for to notice.
----------
This is what mine looks like after 6 weeks. Using AIAIAI TMA-1 headphones.
View attachment 383039
Hope they give me a new one, then I will wrap it up all good, and newer use a headset again!
Honestly, without applecare+ they may not give you a new phone. However, that is definitely caused from the headphone cable rubbing on the bottom...and there is nothing you could have done to prevent that. I could see if it looked like stab marks from trying to plug it in and missing, but that is clearly caused by the friction in normal usage. That should be consider a manufacturing flaw IMO