Apple QC Sucks!

They're not hermetically sealed and air tight. anything assembled is going to have some gap somewhere that dust can get in. If it annoys you, take it to the apple store and they'll just replace it for you no problem. i've had several replaced for that.

BlueMoonForever said:

So I notice two specks of dust in my iPhone 5 camera lens. Got the phone in December and it was made then also. I expected quality control to increase since September but I don't think it has. Two specks of dust in my camera lens is very frustrating considering this phone costs $749. I have tried everything to remove it. Using compressed air doesn't work. Why does Apple allow phones to pass QC with dust in the lens?

Now keep in mind, my camera works fine and the dust hasn't affected pictures yet, but it worries me that the speck of dust can move with use?

The dust is kind of hard to see, but its there. My picture actually makes it look a lot better than it actually is.
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http://i45.tinypic.com/2nq8yz8.jpg

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If it doesnt affect your picture at all then who cares? Now you have a excuse to go get a new iPhone for when you ding that one up more

BlueMoonForever said:

Why does Apple allow phones to pass QC with dust in the lens?

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This is why:

BlueMoonForever said:

Now keep in mind, my camera works fine and the dust hasn't affected pictures yet,

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Don't worry about it.

I have dust too but It's not big deal because It doesnt affect my pictures

Bahroo said:

If it doesnt affect your picture at all then who cares? Now you have a excuse to go get a new iPhone for when you ding that one up more

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Well said.

I don't understand, you have no problems but you strip search your phone , searching for 'defects' (I put that in quotes mockingly) to complain about. How the @#$^ do you even notice a single speck of dust like that?

I can't even see whatever it is that you're worried about.

Bahroo said:

If it doesnt affect your picture at all then who cares?

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It's the principle.

Apple claims to build high quality premium products. Perhaps some people think a speck of dust is not enough to complain about, yet that's not the point. I've received more expensive Apple products with very significant scratches (as confirmed by the genius that watched me open the box right there in the store). While they replaced it, what if I was hundreds of miles away & had to ship it back & start over.

Don't get me wrong I'm a long time Apple supporter, customer & enthusiast, which is why this is so noticeable & bothersome. Apple has a great track record from the past, yet it's slipping & has been for the last two years. It's time for them to get back on track. The benefits are too important to be ignored.

maxosx said:

It's the principle.

Apple claims to build high quality premium products. Perhaps some people think a speck of dust is not enough to complain about, yet that's not the point. I've received more expensive Apple products with very significant scratches (as confirmed by the genius that watched me open the box right there in the store). While they replaced it, what if I was hundreds of miles away & had to ship it back & start over.

Don't get me wrong I'm a long time Apple supporter, customer & enthusiast, which is why this is so noticeable & bothersome. Apple has a great track record from the past, yet it's slipping & has been for the last two years. It's time for them to get back on track. The benefits are too important to be ignored.

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Two specs of dust is different than 'very significant scratches.' One is easily unavoidable, the other is very difficult. These things are within specs.

If you buy a brand new car and find a spec of dust on the dash, would you throw such a tantrum? After all, it costs way more than an iPhone.

BlueMoonForever said:

Come on??? Who wants a manufacturing defect in their new shiny iPhone? If it was part of the design then that would be one thing. How is this ok? If the phone costs less than $100 I wouldn't care, but $749!!!

Not too mention my sleep wake button is very loose and rattles. Hold your finger on it, no rattle. Camera rattle is normal.

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How are you so sure it didn't get in after you got it?

macsrcool1234 said:

1) Two specs of dust is different than 'very significant scratches.' One is easily unavoidable, the other is very difficult. These things are within specs.

2) If you buy a brand new car and find a spec of dust on the dash, would you throw such a tantrum? After all, it costs way more than an iPhone.

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1a) I've given but one example, of several I've personally experienced, all because of the volume of Apple products I buy each year. In every case either significant cosmetic damage, or functionality were the issues.

In the prior eight years of volume purchases, especially laptops, not one was defective. That's how Apple earned its reputation.

2a) There's no need to insult the OP based on a difference in values.

Apple QC worries you because you find a tiny spec of dust in your camera? Lol wow

BlueMoonForever said:

Yes. Nice knowing these products cost a lot of money and they come with imperfections.

If you want to settle for imperfections be my guest, but I won't.

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I have had more defects and imperfections with other products, less so with Apple products. My old GS3 came with light leakage, loose buttons and a creaky back but i couldnt do anything about that because there's no Samsung stores i could just go to and swap it out for a new one free. Knowing Verizon, theyll make me pay out of pocket to get a replacement and its just garbage

mobilehaathi said:

I can't even see whatever it is that you're worried about.

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If (when) the dust speck moves to the lens and cover the lens it will a problem when you want to take a picture. That wasn't all that hard to understand, was it?

How in the world can anyone say that it could be normal or acceptable to have dust inside the lens on a premium product as this that you pay $745-$1000 for? Not even Apple or the Apple staff would accept that. Why is it so hard for some to admit that their precious Apple lately have had some QC issues? I have never before seen so many blindly defend their brand.

And not just that. If someone complaints about something, not only do others say that is normal or should be expected. Many also have to more or less attack the poster calling them OCD, Anal, Fandroids, Apple haters, Apple bashers or even that they are lying, making stuff up or have damaged it themselves on purpose just to badmouth Apple etc.

I think we all want our Apple products to be perfect out of the box (and stay that way as long as possible) and have the kind of quality many seems agree on that they used to have. If we all start to accept second class products from a premium brand that we bought for a premium price it would send a message to Apple that we don't mind, that that is ok. Then they could keep on pushing their Chinese workers even harder and harder, neglecting QC even more. Just to being able to push out products even faster.

If believe the only way of getting the QC to get better is for everyone to accept that there are actual problems, that the QC has indeed become worse and stand up to Apple and let them no that this isn't ok, that we expect more from our Apple products.

Bahroo said:

I have had more defects and imperfections with other products, less so with Apple products. My old GS3 came with light leakage, loose buttons and a creaky back but i couldnt do anything about that because there's no Samsung stores i could just go to and swap it out for a new one free. Knowing Verizon, theyll make me pay out of pocket to get a replacement and its just garbage

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If that's how it works in the rest of the world I really feel sorry for you and understand why you all complain. But at least here in Sweden (and I thought that was how it worked on in most of the enlightened world), if you buy a new product and it something is wrong with it, all you have to do is go back to the store you bought it and you will get a new one, no questions asked.

If the issues you explain about your sad S3 had been noticed within the first two years and the store you bought it couldn't prove that you damaged the phone so those issues appeared, you would also get a free warranty repair or a new unit.

It would be nice to always being able to always getting a replacement unit from an Apple store. Unfortunately there aren't that many of those in many countries. Here in Sweden we have two, with the nearest being 65 miles from me and the other is very far away. It would be worse for my sister though, having 573 miles to her nearest Apple store .

Two things:
--dust has happened in all my camera lenses on smartphones. I don't like it, but Apple is not unique in this regard. It should not affect the pic. So whether dust should get in or not, is another question. It is par for the course no matter which phone you get, so that should make you feel better.
--many are conditioned to think that Apple's build quality is better than other manufacturers. This is part of their marketing schtick so we are right to expect better, esp since their stuff costs more. But the bottom line is that their stuff is being manufactured using the same companies as everyone else, and I for one do not believe that they have any edge on the competition. Any edge would be in the original design, but the actual assembly is the same as other companies. Any improvements would be due to higher quality control requirements that Apple is able to impose, but I see no evidence that they actually do this. There is luck of the draw, and a 30 day return policy. That's basically your only "protection". I too see lots of QC variability in the 5 phones that I got, with an Apple genius telling me that the scratches would have gotten there eventually so he didn't want me to exchange it. The fact that he took me for an idiot bothered me most more than the scratches. If we want to play in the smartphone world, we just need to accept that these phones are becoming more and more alike as time goes on, and no one company has an edge over another. So much like cars and digital cameras have reached feature and quality and safety parity, we're basically there with smartphones.
If you accept this premise, then it makes sense to pay attention to value. It does irritate me that Apple puts out this premium label marketing schtick, but they are no that different than BMW, etc. With the iphone 5, the price premium no longer works for me and I do not find their offerings worthy of the price premium. It's Toyota vs Honda in my mind now, and if Toyota costs alot more than Honda, I'll just buy a Honda, even if I was nominally a Toyota type of guy before.

people say $749 like they actually paid the full price and not just $200

tymaster50 said:

people say $749 like they actually paid the full price and not just $200

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I (or the company I work for) actually payed $930 (eqv. in SEK) for my iPhone 5, no contract. This is actually how many ("people") buy their phones outside of US at least. If I would have bought a Samsung S3 instead, it would have "only" costed $660, $270 less.

Seriously, the dust particles that fall on it are more visible than that tiny speck that isn't even in front of the sensor.

Scratches, death pixels, etc. - those shouldn't be there out of the box. A tiny spec of dust 99% of the iPhone buyers wouldn't even have noticed...

I understand you paid a lot of money for it, but I think you are pushing it a bit too far here. Oh, and just a note: your signature still says you own a 32 GB iPhone 4S (which obviously has become an iPhone 5 ).

I don't think the amount of money you pay entitles you to perfection, just something that works without fault. Dust doesn't cause any problems.