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3G - Cracks in Plastic Housing

apple have a charge sheet for plastic cracks

This is not the first time Apple have had a product develop hairline cracks. The White MacBooks cracked eveywhere. Same shiny gel coated plastic as the iPhone. They had thousands of returns and never did rectify the issue. As long they keep using oh so cool looking but completley unrobust materials this will happen. Whenever asthetics are higher priority than quality you will get problems, look at Ferrari cars, look and go great but built like crap.

Thing is it's the asthetics that I love about Apple and if they stopped using nonstandard materials they would become another Dell. The one thing I can't forgive is the buggy iPhone OS. 2.0.2.
 
bmwpowere36m3 said:
I think the reason the plastic *might* be cracking around the headset jack is that there is very little material (plastic) around the hole (jack), especially towards the chrome bezel.

I figure people have their headsets plugged into the phone and they stick it into their pockets. When walking you (your leg) constantly push back and forth on the phone and especially the protruding plug... thus adding additional stress around the hole, which in turn cracks due to "sub-quality" plastic.
Click to expand...
Mine came with this crack and assumed it was cracked when assembled.
 
Well just got my first cracks. This is my second iphone "3G" too. First was swapped because the powerbutton was sinking into the casing and becoming flush. This replacement one is only TWO WEEKS OLD and it's got cracks around the power button, which is also uneven and sinking on one side.

These issues, combined with the battery and reception problems have really pissed me off, and this may be the last straw before i vote with my wallet and pick up a blackberry and some 3rd party mac syncing software.
 
Does anyone know how the apple store geniuses are taking to these cracks? I've made an appointment tonight to get it swappped out, hopefully. Are they swapping them, or giving people a hard time because they consider it "cosmetic?"
 
Got my black 16GB the day after launch and it has developed a crack today around the docking port.
Looking at the crack, it isn't just a "surface mark" - it goes all the way through the plastic so I guess it will be going back for an exchange :(
 

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Phil A. said:
Got my black 16GB the day after launch and it has developed a crack today around the docking port.
Looking at the crack, it isn't just a "surface mark" - it goes all the way through the plastic so I guess it will be going back for an exchange :(
Click to expand...

Let us know if they give you any flack -- they may try to claim you abused it.
 
cellocello said:
Let us know if they give you any flack -- they may try to claim you abused it.
Click to expand...

It's an interesting situation really - I'm guessing the plastic doesn't spontaneously split, so I must have exerted some force on it at some time (probably docking it or undocking it), but the question then is whether it's broken unreasonably (i.e. has it been abused). It'll be a week or so before I can get to an Apple store anyway so I'll just see if it gets any worse in the meantime.
If it does get worse (to the point where it isn't considered "cosmetic", I may be able to claim it on my insurance (i.e. accidental damage) which would be easier because they ship one out to me and I don't have to make the 3 hour round trip!
Of course, if the insurance refuses to replace it then that would make it a manufacturing fault, which Apple are responsible for
 
I know this is of topic, but i emailed steve jobs about my wobbly buttons, not flush edge and leaking back light:
Dear Mr Jobs,

I purchased a 16 GB iPhone on the day of release in the U.K., and was thrilled with it, it was such a beautiful device and i slowly started to notice things wrong with it, first of all the back casing isn't flush with the chrome bezel, creating a rough edge on parts of the phone, i chose to ignore this since the rest of the phone was perfect, but then i noticed all of the buttons on the case (the volume, Silent and hold button) are loose and wobble around. i then chose to ignore this as well, however recently i have noticed the backlight leaking through in the space between the case and the bezel, i would ignore this also, but it could lead to dust getting under the glass and disrupting my view. Despite these problems i am still reluctant to exchange the phone because with this device it seems like a game of Russian roulette and the phone i receive in a exchange could have another problem and be worse than my current phone.
Its not just the iphone that I've noticed has a poor build quality, the other day a relative who i persuaded to buy a macbook opened the box to find out the top layer of plastic was peeling away from the case, i was also shocked at the shabby quality of the macbook when compared to the ibook. The build quality of your products has slowly decreased over the last few years and i don't know what has changed in the last few years besides you becoming more popular. The fact is you need to get your act together and sort out your quality control and bring it up to the standard of what it was a few years ago.



I then had an executive relations officer ring me, still bewildered that she hunted down my name in the apple ID accounts :eek:, unfortunately i was out so she emailed me and has said she wished to talk about my problems, this i must say is a swift response from steve who last time took a week to reply to an email of mine, hopefully when she calls tomorrow i can resolve all my issues with her, and hopefully get a perfect phone :)
 
wronski said:
Yes I do and as far as I'm concerned the cracks are a myth. Keep in mind people like me will rarely look at this thread.
Click to expand...

They're clearly not a myth because people really do have them (including myself). However, I don't think they're as prevalent as this thread would suggest.
 
I have a white iPhone with no cracks yet, I hope none develop, but I'm extremely careful with it. Although it seems that they do appear spontaneously, so I dunno what to think at this point. I'll be pissed mainly because I have a fullbodyfilms protection pack fully on it right now.
 
Since I got my iphone it had some, two actually, uneven spots around my lens. Because it took such a long time before I could actually get one I took it for granted, took it with me on my holidays etc. Well I took very good care of it, had it in a solid cover.

Well since this rumours got out, about the cracks, I inspected my phone quite often. Since today I noticed that I've got loads of cracks around the same uneven spots! They shaped themselves around the lens! You can even feel them through the top coating.. :mad:

Some other guys from the Netherlands, who took some action and finally got theirselves a new one?

By the way, the production week of my iphone is 27.

Here some pic's. (Full res - http://www.gykm.nl/iphone/)

1.jpg


2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg


5.jpg
 
rmc.gykm said:
Since I got my iphone it had some, two actually, uneven spots around my lens. Because it took such a long time before I could actually get one I took it for granted, took it with me on my holidays etc. Well I took very good care of it, had it in a solid cover.

Well since this rumours got out, about the cracks, I inspected my phone quite often. Since today I noticed that I've got loads of cracks around the same uneven spots! They shaped themselves around the lens! You can even feel them through the top coating.. :mad:

Some other guys from the Netherlands, who took some action and finally got theirselves a new one?

By the way, the production week of my iphone is 27.

Here some pic's. (Full res - http://www.gykm.nl/iphone/)
<<pictures snipped>>
Click to expand...

Hey, your iPhones developing eyelashes - maybe it's coming to life :D

Seriously though, that's looks pretty bad - I'm sure Apple will swap it out
 
I do not want to read all 32 pages in this thread but I have a question. I've never dropped my phone but it has a pinhead size crack(or more like a dent) on the top left hand corner, placed exactly in between the silent switch and headphone jack.

Everybody who has cracks on their phone, did it start out as something small and developed into a big crack, or did you just notice all of a sudden that your phone has a big, noticeable size crack?
 

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:confused::confused::confused: :eek::eek::eek: :mad::mad::mad:

Holy cheeseballs!!!! Upon further investigation of my phone, I discovered like 30 little cracks between the chrome and volume bar.
 

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Successful cracked iPhone replacement.



I just had mine replaced at the Apple Store Eaton Center in Toronto, Canada.

Full details on my story are on my Flickr page - click the photo as I can't be bothered to paste it all here as I won't get around to updating both copies of the story if something else happens. :p
 
Well done! It is a good news for us too! It means that we can say to our Apple Reseller that it is possible to replace the phone under warranty because in Canada they did so! :)

MY PERSONAL UPDATE: today it's the fifth day with my new iPhone (actually it has been purchased on the 13th of July coz I bought it second hand). It means my iPhone 3G 8GB has already a month and approximately 10 days...

  • No cracks so far! I keep on checkin' it almost twice a day! At least I don't see them!
  • No dust under the screen.
  • No dead pixels.

However I keep on checkin' all these three aspects twice a day!

My serial number is: A1241
FCC ID: BGCGA1241
IC ID: 579C-A1241

Could anybody tell me where and when has my iPhone been produced? I have not understood the serial number thing... Thanks in advance!


Cheers from Croatia!



Marko
 
Macmadant said:
I know this is of topic, but i emailed steve jobs about my wobbly buttons, not flush edge and leaking back light:
Dear Mr Jobs,

I purchased a 16 GB iPhone on the day of release in the U.K., and was thrilled with it, it was such a beautiful device and i slowly started to notice things wrong with it, first of all the back casing isn't flush with the chrome bezel, creating a rough edge on parts of the phone, i chose to ignore this since the rest of the phone was perfect, but then i noticed all of the buttons on the case (the volume, Silent and hold button) are loose and wobble around. i then chose to ignore this as well, however recently i have noticed the backlight leaking through in the space between the case and the bezel, i would ignore this also, but it could lead to dust getting under the glass and disrupting my view. Despite these problems i am still reluctant to exchange the phone because with this device it seems like a game of Russian roulette and the phone i receive in a exchange could have another problem and be worse than my current phone.
Its not just the iphone that I've noticed has a poor build quality, the other day a relative who i persuaded to buy a macbook opened the box to find out the top layer of plastic was peeling away from the case, i was also shocked at the shabby quality of the macbook when compared to the ibook. The build quality of your products has slowly decreased over the last few years and i don't know what has changed in the last few years besides you becoming more popular. The fact is you need to get your act together and sort out your quality control and bring it up to the standard of what it was a few years ago.



I then had an executive relations officer ring me, still bewildered that she hunted down my name in the apple ID accounts :eek:, unfortunately i was out so she emailed me and has said she wished to talk about my problems, this i must say is a swift response from steve who last time took a week to reply to an email of mine, hopefully when she calls tomorrow i can resolve all my issues with her, and hopefully get a perfect phone :)
Click to expand...

What mail address do you guys always use to get Mr Steve to answering you? steve@apple.com?
 
poor quality control

Based on the recent quality problems and the photos from the iPhone factory is quite evident that the manufacturing process of the Chinese vendor is manual and not fully automated, :apple: may need to either hire a quuality guru and a team of quality/lean/six sigma consultants to put their act together...open another factory to compete with the current one, they are currently struggling with the demand and production capacity that without a robust process and control plan generates this poor quality.
It's the perfect storm:
- short time to market
- few development iterations
- high demand of the product
- cheap and manual labor
 
McGiord said:
Based on the recent quality problems and the photos from the iPhone factory is quite evident that the manufacturing process of the Chinese vendor is manual and not fully automated, :apple: may need to either hire a quuality guru and a team of quality/lean/six sigma consultants to put their act together...open another factory to compete with the current one, they are currently struggling with the demand and production capacity that without a robust process and control plan generates this poor quality.
It's the perfect storm:
- short time to market
- few development iterations
- high demand of the product
- cheap and manual labor
Click to expand...

This is the best sum up of the situation I have read.....well done sir.
 
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