Apple Claims 'Exploding' iPhones Due to Screen Pressure, Not Battery Issues

[macintoshtoffy]

A swelling battery would not show glass breakage as external pressure on the glass. It would show the opposite. So unless Apple didn't check closely enough to determine the direction of the breakage, this wouldn't apply.

I wouldn't trust the customer; I only need to look at how people treat their property after purchasing it - little wonder things go wrong, devices fail and batteries explode. Treat your stuff with respect and you'll get many years of reliable service out of - treat it like a football by constantly dropping it, throwing it around and being rough with it - expecting something to go wrong.

 

[Lershac]

These are people looking to cash in for a quick buck and going about it wrong!

ANY personal injury lawyer would NEVER let a client turn the malfunctioned device over to the company for "analysis". If the kid was really injured and sought serious legal advice, any lawyer would have 1st, given the kid a new iphone as an "advance" on a possible settlement. 2nd they would have turned it over to an independent lab for analysis.

in any event I have yet to see a picture of a broken iphone purported to have exploded, that LOOKED like it exploded, instead they look like they have sufferred a blow to the screen or bezel that cracked the glass.

Show us some pics of the "exploded" iphones please!

 

[kdarling]

I would think that the glass used in iPhones and Touches is tempered safety glass, which is made to break down into pebbles, or laminated safety glass which looks more like the photo of the kids iPhone. Either way, the goal is to reduce or eliminate the possibility of flying shards.

That's part of the problem.

It is NOT tempered glass, which breaks into safe shapes.

The glass used in the iPhone is optical quality glass... made for purity of vision through it. But when it breaks, it does so into dangerous shards.

 

[Consultant]

Out of over 40 million iPhones + iPod touch, the "reported" cases are in the single digit.

You have better chance to get hit by lightening.
You have better chance to win the lottery.

 

[Veri]

Oh, oh, oh, this is the age of pity the little guy. Shed tears for the teenager whose eye was damaged as he just barely used his iPhone. Again, BullCrap! Teenagers lie. That's what they do.

(...). . . at which point it occurred to them to . . . to . . . BLAME THE EVIL CORPORATE EMPIRE TO THE WEST! Fie on America, the brigands!

This is fraud, pure and simple, ladies and gentlemen, and I hope Apple sues the living crap out of all three of them. (Do frogs even HAVE crap?)

Is this an echo of the final guy to break in 12 Angry Men or a pro-corporation follow-on to I walked on the sidewalk?

 

[Uragon]

BTW, This kid is not the only one at all, there is also an older man ( around 75 yrs old). The exact same thing happened to him. And both iphone look identical after exploding.

He must be the father?

 

[Uragon]

I agree. And neither would I. But I'm 99% positive it's not just "pressure".
It might not be the battery either, but something is obviously wrong if it hasn't been dropped...

I agree and go for the "tight Pants" theory. And Apple should concentrate on this. And the investigators should bring measuring tape with them.

 

[DjHeXeR]

lcd break bit no glass break

My LCD panel had a fine crack across the screen, still don't know what happened to this day. I never dropped it or mishandled it (only owned the thing for 35 days)

I did take a trip to Japan and was on take off and descend 2 times, then it was hot as heck in japan (but not too hot to break the thing) didn't touch it for two days. picked it up and turned it on and it looked like ink spred everywhere. still functional but couldn't see most of the screen

Anyways took it to apple, genius looked at it and said that was weird cause the phone was flawless except for the screen, took it to the back replaced the LCD for free and stated something like, "looks like there was a possible manufacture defect on the LCD"

I was amazed it only took only 10 min to replace the screen

 

[jjd]

Yeah, but the overheating is not an isolated problem

I am sure there are very, very few examples of "exploding" iPhones and am willing to believe there were other factors involved in the cases in France. But, the fact that Apple has a design flaw on its hands given the battery heat and life issues in simply not controversial.

When I upgraded my 3G to 3.0, I began experiencing extreme overheating and absurdly short (1.5 hr when at rest) battery life. After a few reboots the problem disappeared. I then bought a 3GS and for the first month had no problems, but for the past week I have precisely the same issue. I have restored it back to zero twice and have the latest software but there has been no improvement. I have to wait 5 days to get an appointment with a "Genius" to have them swap out my phone (assuming they will). That will means two weeks with essentially no phone.

Apple's support site suggests I try turning off push features etc. Huh? I did not buy the phone to not use its features. Furthermore, it worked fine for a month.

Apple needs to just come clean and recall or patch these things. To suggest that there are single digit examples of overheating is silly - there are hundreds of examples in the various internet forums.

 

[Lershac]

My LCD panel had a fine crack across the screen, still don't know what happened to this day. I never dropped it or mishandled it (only owned the thing for 35 days)

I did take a trip to Japan and was on take off and descend 2 times, then it was hot as heck in japan (but not too hot to break the thing) didn't touch it for two days. picked it up and turned it on and it looked like ink spred everywhere. still functional but couldn't see most of the screen

Anyways took it to apple, genius looked at it and said that was weird cause the phone was flawless except for the screen, took it to the back replaced the LCD for free and stated something like, "looks like there was a possible manufacture defect on the LCD"

I was amazed it only took only 10 min to replace the screen

I bet they gave u a new phone after a backup and restore/reactivation. Most apple retail locations are not equipped to do any physical repairs to iphones, they just dole out replacement refurbs at their discretion.

 

[VulchR]

Well, I got one! .... Now, I have about a 2.5" crack in the back of my brand new super expensive wonderphone....

Pictures? *cough* *cough*

 

[Bjohnson33]

Whether it is the battery or "pressure" this is moot.

No consumer product that is meant for pockets/purses/etc. should be engineered to NOT withstand some pressure/jostling.

I have been an engineer for 30 years and every since the 1990's engineering budget for safety/quality control/testing has been gutted. Why? Because of $$$$....the bottom line.

Where are the traditional "shake and bake" tests for consumer electronics today? Where are the temperature/pressure tests?

It is easier (and more importantly....cheaper) for today's companies to keep a few top lawyers on retainer for the inevitable lawsuits than staff engineering organizations with ALL engineering disciplines. By ALL I mean not just design, but requirements, saftey, test, and QC. Sadly, design (HW and SW) appear to the only discipline left at a lot of companies today....and of course...LOTS of lawyers.

This is not an Apple thing....this is a corporate thing....across the board.

To be fair, there have only been a handful of cases that have been reported. When you make 15 million units of anything, you're bound to get a few that have issues. I don't think this is worth raising too much of an issue about.

 

[igwe14]

iphone3g restore

Now, no one really expects Apple to admit to this, do they? At least, not until the lawsuits get to amount to a lot more than a mass recall.

pls i really need some help. i tried restoring my iphone manually thinking it will solve my earpiece freezing. i did it and it erased everything and now i can`t use my iphone whenever i on it will show apple logo then it will start loading then it will off itself again then it will be back the apple logo loading again. pls what should i do to repair it? thnks

 

[yamabushi]

Tempered Glass

It is NOT tempered glass, which breaks into safe shapes. The glass used in the iPhone is optical quality glass... made for purity of vision through it.

Tempered glass is also about twice as resistant to impact forces. This may be an opportunity to improve on the design. If an appropriately clear tempered glass could be used then this would make the iPhone even tougher.