Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MegaBit

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 8, 2005
33
0
So after reading the post about the cracked white 3G I decided to dig out my Hastings 10X triplet loupe and examine the case of my Black 16 GB 3G.

Yup, just about every hole that was machined into the plastic case for the On/Off, SIM slot, Volume Rocker, Dock Connector, and Speaker/Microphone has hairline stress cracks radiating out from the holes. They're a few mm long and there is plenty of them on each hole-- like 3 or 4 and they are concentrated near the ends of the slot-shaped holes. There's even a chip on one end of the On/Off button that is visible without magnification now that I know its there.

This may be normal from the machining process to insert the holes but I certainly hope its not a sign of weakness or failure locations. This does not give me a good feeling for the durability of the product over a 2-year contract.

Getting photos of these would be difficult without the right microscope camera.
 
Millimeters? If all holes in the case had cracking in the order of millimeters they would be more than hairline. Ijust checked my 3g casing and see no issues at all.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.