Why does the iPhone 5 quality control suck?

drew0020 · Mar 10, 2013

Pretty simple really. I have yet to see a new iPhone 5 out of the box without a dent, ding or scratch. The majority of the dings and dents are on the chamfered edges of the device.

Ive given 5 iPhone 5's as gifts to my family. All had some sort of defect. 2 were exchanged this week and also had defects. I recently developed a home button issue. My first replacement looked like it was dropped. The second was much better but has a small dent on the left side of the device.

Is a dent and ding free device to much to ask for new out of the box? Very disappointing.
Andy

Radiating · Mar 10, 2013

drew0020 said:
Pretty simple really. I have yet to see a new iPhone 5 out of the box without a dent, ding or scratch. The majority of the dings and dents are on the chamfered edges of the device.

Ive given 5 iPhone 5's as gifts to my family. All had some sort of defect. 2 were exchanged and also had defects. I recently developed a home button issue. My first replacement looked like it was dropped. The second was much better but has a small dent on the left side of the device.

Is a dent and ding free device to much to ask for new out of the box? Very disappointing.
Andy

Not build quality, quality control. The iPhone has the best build quality of any mobile device. This is also why the quality control is so poor because it's so hard to make.

Apple has actually made some major changes to it's manufacturing process to reduce issues if you read around.

AnorexicPig · Mar 10, 2013

drew0020 said:
Pretty simple really. I have yet to see a new iPhone 5 out of the box without a dent, ding or scratch. The majority of the dings and dents are on the chamfered edges of the device.

Ive given 5 iPhone 5's as gifts to my family. All had some sort of defect. 2 were exchanged and also had defects. I recently developed a home button issue. My first replacement looked like it was dropped. The second was much better but has a small dent on the left side of the device.

Is a dent and ding free device to much to ask for new out of the box? Very disappointing.
Andy

Pretty simple,I haven't yet found any iPhone 5 with any dings or dents or whatever-have seen around 15 so far in person.

CEmajr · Mar 10, 2013

AnorexicPig said:
Pretty simple,I haven't yet found any iPhone 5 with any dings or dents or whatever-have seen around 15 so far in person.

Neither have I. I'm yet to see one of these damaged out of the box phones.

drew0020 · Mar 10, 2013

I've seen 15 in person. All have visible dents and dings. The smallest just have scratches on the back aluminum. Either I have bad luck or you two are very lucky!

Gunlance · Mar 10, 2013

Talk about major OCD. The build quality is superb. All those scuff issues are user problems. These are probably the same people who rant and rave about scratches on the metal and then put a plastic case over the phone. Use the phone as a PHONE and stop letting it control your life.

Yester5 · Mar 10, 2013

Mine is still perfect (white one) after 6 months of carry...I have 9 friends and family members that have black and white ones and they are perfect too...so to answer your question.."it doesn't".

Ann P · Mar 10, 2013

Seems like early production units are the one with cosmetic blemishes. My mom has a scratch on hers, that one was purchased December. I got mine about a month ago and unluckily, it was flawless out of box.

drew0020 · Mar 10, 2013

Gunlance said:
Talk about major OCD. The build quality is superb. All those scuff issues are user problems. These are probably the same people who rant and rave about scratches on the metal and then put a plastic case over the phone. Use the phone as a PHONE and stop letting it control your life.

I use the phone as a phone but when the phone has noticeable defects out of the box it bothers me. I admit I am picky but the defects are visible. I still buy Apple stuff but have never seen such poor quality control on any item as I have seen with the iPhone 5.

----------

Ann P said:
Seems like early production units are the one with cosmetic blemishes. My mom has a scratch on hers, that one was purchased December. I got mine about a month ago and unluckily, it was flawless out of box.

I wish I had your luck. I've purchased 5 brand new phones and had 5 replacements due to issues and all have had minor damage. Waiting for the 5S to hopefully iron out these problems.

Jmacman78 · Mar 10, 2013

I know several people with iPhone 5's, and I have also purchased a bunch for the company I work at, and they all looked perfect out of the box.

Many of them still without cases and they are in very good condition, maybe some scratches and such, but thats no different from the iPhone 4's. Even the 3G's and all the way back to the original iPhone, things get worn, things get scratched, dinged, etc. I don't know why people think Apple products are the exception to this.

When you use any product without any type of protective case/skin it's bound to show some wear and tear over time, paired with the fact that everyone treats their devices differently, it's no shocker to have seen some dinged up and scratched.

drew0020 · Mar 10, 2013

Jmacman78 said:
I know several people with iPhone 5's, and I have also purchased a bunch for the company I work at, and they all looked perfect out of the box.

Many of them still without cases and they are in very good condition, maybe some scratches and such, but thats no different from the iPhone 4's. Even the 3G's and all the way back to the original iPhone, things get worn, things get scratched, dinged, etc. I don't know why people think Apple products are the exception to this.

When you use any product without any type of protective case/skin it's bound to show some wear and tear over time, paired with the fact that everyone treats their devices differently, it's no shocker to have seen some dinged up and scratched.

I'm not talking about after usage. I'm talking about brand new out of box or refurbished from AppleCare. All had visible defects out of the box/white box replacement.

SomeDudeAsking · Mar 10, 2013

Radiating said:
The iPhone has the best build quality of any mobile device.

That's only your opinion and not fact. In my opinion, the flagship Nokia and HTC phones have higher build quality.

mattopotamus · Mar 10, 2013

AnorexicPig said:
Pretty simple,I haven't yet found any iPhone 5 with any dings or dents or whatever-have seen around 15 so far in person.

Same. The forums are the only place where I have seen/heard of the out of box issues. I have bought 3 iPhone 5s and have a few friends with them, black and white all good.

itjw · Mar 10, 2013

Pretty simple. There are trolls, and folks with OCD that hold the iPhone to a COMPLETELY different standard than any other mass produced consumer electronic ever produced.

In a way it IS Apples fault. They produce SUCH a high quality product, with such high levels of refinement, that people actually get butt hurt when one appears with a mm "scuff" out of the box that you can kinda see, if you hold the phone at the right angle and in the right light...

The VAST majority of users (save the OCD'ers and trolls of course) are completely satisfied with the "quality control" of the iPhone.

You aren't. Buy something else maybe? Nah, that would be riddled with "problems" too, unless you held it to a different standard.

And save me the "I spent $$$ so it better be FLAWLESS" crap, because if you whined about ANY other product the way you whine about this PHONE people would literally roll their eyes and laugh at you. Almost no mass produced product is "flawless" if you look hard enough. If that's not acceptable to you (tiny marks, "scuffs" or other meaningless "defects") then don't buy mass produced products.

Nothing will ever be good enough. You can lie and say you had a phone once that was, but if you gave me ten minutes and a microscope I could find plenty of "quality control" issues with it too. The difference is, you didn't hold it to the same standard as you do the iPhone.

There is NO quality control "problem" with the 5. Just a handful of OCD'ers and trolls bent on complaining because they can't accept reality.

Sorry

drew0020 · Mar 10, 2013

itjw said:
Pretty simple. There are trolls, and folks with OCD that hold the iPhone to a COMPLETELY different standard than any other mass produced consumer electronic ever produced.

In a way it IS Apples fault. They produce SUCH a high quality product, with such high levels of refinement, that people actually get butt hurt when one appears with a mm "scuff" out of the box that you can kinda see, if you hold the phone at the right angle and in the right light...

The VAST majority of users (save the OCD'ers and trolls of course) are completely satisfied with the "quality control" of the iPhone.

You aren't. Buy something else maybe? Nah, that would be riddled with "problems" too, unless you held it to a different standard.

And save me the "I spent $$$ so it better be FLAWLESS" crap, because if you whined about ANY other product the way you whine about this PHONE people would literally roll their eyes and laugh at you. Almost no mass produced product is "flawless" if you look hard enough. If that's not acceptable to you (tiny marks, "scuffs" or other meaningless "defects") then don't buy mass produced products.

Nothing will ever be good enough. You can lie and say you had a phone once that was, but if you gave me ten minutes and a microscope I could find plenty of "quality control" issues with it too. The difference is, you didn't hold it to the same standard as you do the iPhone.

There is NO quality control "problem" with the 5. Just a handful of OCD'ers and trolls bent on complaining because they can't accept reality.

Sorry

I've owned every iPhone since the original. Have multiple Apple products. Have never had an issue with any product as I've had since the iPhone 5. I also own stock. I am not a troll nor am I OCD.

I just expect things that I buy to be flawless out of the box. I haven't had an issue with any other product I've purchased >$500 with the exception of my Nespresso gran maestria machine.

Grolubao · Mar 10, 2013

I agree, it sucks... I mean the iPhone 5 is a nice device from the hardware point of view, it's fast, camera's great, no issues there, but the build quality just sucks. I'm on my 5th iPhone 5 and I had to content with a flawed phone with cosmetical blemishes.

1 - Scuffed out of the box
2 - Bent out of the box
3 - Took this one, but after 1 week the power button broke
4 - Dented out of the box
5 - Has scratches on the bezel, but they aren't that big so I took this one

lordofthereef · Mar 10, 2013

I think the answer lies within the fabrication process. Every iPhone before it (minus the 4 and 4S... those were the best designs to date IMO) had issues, generally with the case. The 3G and 3GS would have cracks around the speaker and 30-pin ports, if not out of the box, often times after normal use (with no other dings, scuffs, or indication of drops). It is what it is. I personally got a white phone because, even though the black one is SUPER sexy, I knew I couldn't live with dings be it out of the box or done by me, which are much easier to see even without looking for them on the black phone. Happy to say that I am three months into owning the thing and no issues yet.

maxosx · Mar 10, 2013

Apple is expecting near miracles out of Foxconn when it comes to the manufacturing so many units in record time. Something's gotta give. Apples greed prevents them from maintaining the quality standards they set in the past. Mass produced high volume products are always a compromise.

Being a very clever company they also realize the average consumer is afraid to complain. For those who do, Apples profit is so high they can easily afford to give some away to impress their followers.

RenoG · Mar 10, 2013

Just got a 5 from the apple store like yesterday. It's absolutely perfect out of the box, so I don't know if its hit or miss or if QC have gotten tighter with the phones now that they've been out for a while now.

BoostDeuce · Mar 11, 2013

Radiating said:
The iPhone has the best build quality of any mobile device.

are you kidding me? People on this forum post about going crazy by taking their iphones out of their cases because they are so fragile. There isn't a more fragile phone out there. I'm on this forum because i'm pretty sure i want to pull the trigger on the iphone 5, but i worry because i never use a case on my phones and tend to drop them about twice a month. I've never had an issue with my HTC phones with gorilla glass, but this iphone worries me.

mattopotamus · Mar 11, 2013

BoostDeuce said:
are you kidding me? People on this forum post about going crazy by taking their iphones out of their cases because they are so fragile. There isn't a more fragile phone out there. I'm on this forum because i'm pretty sure i want to pull the trigger on the iphone 5, but i worry because i never use a case on my phones and tend to drop them about twice a month. I've never had an issue with my HTC phones with gorilla glass, but this iphone worries me.

If you drop your phones and plan on not using a case....get ready for a very ugly iphone (if you get black). There will be a lot of white/silver showing through after those drops. I use my phone naked but, knock on wood, have not dropped a phone in like 3 years.

tongmew · Mar 11, 2013

You kind of need a case on your iPhone 5 because the keyboard on the iPhone 5 is kinda tight because of the longer screen.

BoostDeuce · Mar 11, 2013

mattopotamus said:
If you drop your phones and plan on not using a case....get ready for a very ugly iphone (if you get black). There will be a lot of white/silver showing through after those drops. I use my phone naked but, knock on wood, have not dropped a phone in like 3 years.

i try to be careful but apparently not careful enough. I dropped my HTC thunderbolt probably 15+ times and the screen never cracked, even when dropped on gravel. Only got a few small dents on the corners of the case.

I see no point in buying an iphone 5, which is so sleek and lightweight, and putting on a half inch thick case. I want the iphone for the facetime and the smaller size and weight. My wifes galaxy s3 is too big to comfortably use daily

rovex · Mar 11, 2013

The chamfered edge on the ipad mini holds up much better than on the iphone which i struggle to understand.

Shrink · Mar 11, 2013

I have personally seen 9000 iPhone 5s.

I can say, definitively, the some of them are dinged and scuffed, and some of them are unmarked.

I can say, definitively, that the Quality Control sometimes is very good, and sometimes not so good.

I can say, definitively, that Apple production is not perfect, and never will be.

So there it is...definitively!!

Why does the iPhone 5 quality control suck?

macrumors 68020

macrumors 65816

macrumors 6502

macrumors 601

macrumors 68020

macrumors newbie

macrumors 6502

macrumors 68020

macrumors 68020

macrumors 6502

macrumors 68020

macrumors 65816

macrumors G5

macrumors 65816

macrumors 68020

macrumors 68000

macrumors G5

macrumors 68020

macrumors 65816

macrumors member

macrumors G5

macrumors newbie

macrumors member

macrumors 65816

macrumors G3

Our Staff