Apple Launches 'Touch Disease' Repair Program for iPhone 6 Plus

[akash.nu]

So using your car analogy.

Ford Admits X models suffer from specific Engine damage due to accidents hitting solid objects, and offers you a discounted replacement price for a new car....... 50% off.....

Are you going to buy this BS?

My first thought is.....yeah NO **** accidental damage leads to things breaking......But I have never Crashed my Ford and I have engine problems....so Do a lot of my friends.

So is this a Recall or is this a Sales push to sell me a replacement ford???

If this was not apple, people would be horrified if a company treated them this way. Just reading this thread there are numerous people that Have experience this issue without dropping their phones.

The Absolute gem of this LAME excuse is that there is a very good chance that everyone at some point has dropped their phone....so lets blame a manufacturing defect on something that most probably has happened during the life cycle of ownership....though yet again, some users have received units with this issue without dropping.

Arrogant and insulting.

I completely agree with you here it being a lame excuse and Apple should either fix it free of cost or replace the device with a refurbished one.

Let me explain the real issue here.

Lets say an iPhone costs $150 to make.

100 000 000 (one hundred million) x $150 = $15 Billion is lost costs. In perspective The Note 7 Disaster is about $2 billion.

So lets get the suckers to pay for their own replacement so it costs apple nothing....... Apple will do anything....anything not to admit faults in iPhones , cause the replacement costs become huge based on units sold.

However, what you've explained here is a recall scenario. A recall typically only takes place where there's a health & safety hazard linked to the issues in hand. This Is not really a similar situation and also it doesn't happen in a significant enough 6 plus devices to go all out calling it a disaster.

Note 7 issue was a burn hazard, that's violation of health and safety regulations. Not the same in this case.

 

[BritishApple]

The combination of unsuitability soft aluminium (conveniently remedied by the 6s) and the removal of the shielding inside the phone's logic board has led to this.

I find it preposterous that Apple expect customers to pay £149 for this to be repaired.

 

[ggibson913]

It isn't because customers drop them. Here's a video:

It's a manufacturing error, and not the customer's fault. To ask people to fork up $150 for their own mistakes is a joke. Stop sucking up to Apple.

Sorry I too find it hard to believe that all of those people dropped their iPhones on a hard surface.

 

[majkom]

Maybe, but the 100% haters should get lost. I am literally sick to my stomach of all the crying and whining from haters who clearly show no loyalty or affinty towards the Apple movement.

for your good, i hope you are just trolling here.. silly

 

[Zaft]

My 6 plus did this but it was dropped plenty of times. But there are people who didn't drop it. This should be a free repair.

 

[SoN1NjA]

Unbelievable! 2017 will be the year to try other ecosystems.

I am an Apple fanboy, but the 7 is boring, and this is bs, they didn't admit any wrong doing, just gave a pretty way of saying we'll fix the screen like we would have before

Idk, Google Pixel is a step behind in some ways, but could be better overall

 

[bunglebungle]

In the end I had 4 (in words: four) 6 plus's!
The first deteriorates in spring after 15 month. I guess I dropped it one or two times only on the wooden floor from knee level. Had a bumper on it since day one, though.
I had it replaced for 135 euros at an Apple Store in Munich. They made it as a gesture of goodwill because it was 3 month out of warranty (only 12 month over here, sigh!).
The replacement had the same issue the next day and I didn't dropped it that single day!
So, I cycled to the Apple Store again and got it replaced without charge, of course.
This one lasted until summer when I, have to admit, dropped it and the next day I had the issue again. The phone had only a minor 'dent' at one edge; almost invisible.
Went to the store again and want to swap it for an additional imaginary fee to an iPhone 6s plus, because i can't bear the 6 plus's anymore. Had to wait 3 hours before I was helped. No way! Talked to the manager; no way! I couldn't even change the color of the iPhone (made a joke when I said: 'must have to do with the color').
In the end I walked out the store with my fourth 6 plus and sold it on the internet!
What's ridiculous: The manager told me the same iPhone (with the same serial number of course) has to be replaced three times before you can swap it to a higher one!
How should that work out when every time you show up with a crappy iPhone you get a (new) refurbished one with an other serial number??
Most of you can imagine how frustrating and time consuming it is to set up a replacement and also to drive to the store spending hours of hours.

 

[SkippyThorson]

So this is no different than Apple's usual screen-replacement cost.

View attachment 673061
https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/screen-damage

I brought in a 6+ for this and they were prepared to charge me $329 even though it was fixed months earlier under warranty for the same issue, and they admitted it was just plain faulty. After reluctantly agreeing and debating it with a handful of people, I said go for it. The repair tech himself came out and said we can't charge you for this, you didn't do anything - these iPhones just do that... They were going to hit me with accidental damage? Now they still won't admit it's their fault? Girrr..

 

[ConnYoungy]

So this is no different than Apple's usual screen-replacement cost.

View attachment 673061
https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/screen-damage

Its not a screen replacement though

 

[Sedulous]

in my opinion they have to, there are many cases reported of units straight out of a box exhibiting these symptoms .

When designing a device you have to factor in durability and not just a passion for thinness. Moving from a 6 to 6S I noticed a substance improvement .....

I already acknowledged these two are no way similar in severity (note 4), though apple accepting responsibility would result in similar $$$ values due to amount of units sold.

While apple will repair devices under its repair program, they will do everything in their power to avoid any financial responsibility with their iPhones, cause the $$$$ are so huge, as we can see here . Had this been a mac, it would be repaired free.

What disappoints me is that I believe apple is profiting from this at $149.

There are no reports of new iPhone 6 exhibiting the issue. It is important to distinguish that. If you go to the Apple Store and ask for a replacement, you usually are getting a "refurbished" unit. These may exhibit the issue but would also still be covered by warranty.

 

[Strugz10]

Does anyone know if they actually repair the logic board or do they simply swap the device?

 

[dumastudetto]

for your good, i hope you are just trolling here.. silly

I think it says it all that on a site devoted to Apple and their products that someone who proclaims to loving that company and those products gets accused of trolling.

 

[kdarling]

I completely agree with you here it being a lame excuse and Apple should either fix it free of cost or replace the device with a refurbished one.

Yep. According to repair shops, Apple made three design mistakes in the 6 and 6 Plus:

• Removed a metal shield that gave the board more stiffness.
• Left out the usual chip underfill which provides extra connection security.
• Made a phone body from too soft material, with a brace design flaw.

These problem areas were all changed or fixed in later models.

A recall typically only takes place where there's a health & safety hazard linked to the issues in hand.

Recalls are also done to avoid legal actions.

As for those who claim this is a rare problem, even super pro-Apple site AI pointed out back in August that up to 22% of Genius Bar appointments in stores they surveyed, were about Touch Disease.

Everyone makes software or hardware mistakes. What matters is how a company takes responsibility afterwards.

For better or worse, Apple has a rep for either ignoring problems, dismissing problems as caused by users, or offering weak remedies. I had hoped that Cook would try to change this perception.

 

[Sedulous]

I have a long list of Nokia & SonyEricsson phones from the 90s and 2000s. Over 20. With the exception of 1, *all* of them still work. Some even with their original batteries. I've sat on them (200lbs) occasionally dropped them and did heavy duty testing with them (I worked in provisioning Telco services back then).

I'm certainly not careless with my mobile devices, but by the very nature of being mobile, resilience should be part of the design decisions. Too much form over function, like what resulted in bendgate with the iPhone 6+, can cause this resilience to fail for a large number of users. Obviously, these problems were solved in the 6s. By that fact, if no design flaw existed, why would Apple address it in its next gen?

Sure, intentional or unintentional physical abuse (obvious bending, cracked screen, chafed/dinged sides) on these fragile devices today could be excluded from a free repair, but I find Apple is dishonest by claiming (and blaming) that only user fault is the cause here, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

The old flip phone and candy bar designs were indeed more resilient but also far more limited. Really not comparable devices. Your credibility is stretched thin as the old Ni-Cad and metal hydride batteries were awful and claims of otherwise are dubious.

Yes, Apple improved resilience over the iPhone 6. How is that evidence of a factory defect? Every model of iPhone has improvements.

In the end, it is a question of reasonable expectation. Should Apple expect people to sit on their iPhone? How about their iPad? How about their MacBook? Should Apple also expect people to go diving with their iPhone?
[doublepost=1479474741][/doublepost]

On what basis do you assert that there is nothing wrong with the ic chip/solder? Have you run accelerated ageing tests, work for Apple, work for the contract manufacturer, stripped down a statistically significant number of units, read it somewhere? I think for such an expensive product I have every right to expect it to be robust against realistic and reasonable use cases.

Don't be rediculous. First, the same chip is used in models where "touch disease" is not apparent.

Second, as explained earlier, the repair does not require chip replacement. "Reballing" just means resoldering the chip to the board.

 

[mixel]

My 6+ has so far been fine. I hope there are some that are solid and mine's randomly one of those.

Admittedly it does have the camera crescent thing but that makes no practical difference, it behaves as normal.

 

[BeefCake 15]

I had to switch the phone twice to fix this problem on iPhone 6, thank God for AppleCare!

 

[nvmls]

But they said it was the best iphone ever made after the best iphone ever made before the best iphone ever made..

 

[nt5672]

Welcome to the new Apple, although in all fairness, Apple has never been one to admit anything unless the press is loud and clear.

 

[fuchsdh]

Way to apologise for them. The program mentions dropping not sitting. Even if it did dropping a phone is to be expected and a certain amount of resilience should be built in.
By your nonsensical logic when they eventually do get into the car business they'll charge to to replace your suspension when you hit a pot hole as you've abused your car. Even though they made the wishbones from actual wishbones sourced from the unicorns in the walled garden at Cupertino.
It'll be the Apple sinkhole suspension repair program.
[doublepost=1479439978][/doublepost]
Fail. Guess what. Cars usually have regenerating. Bumpers for low speed impacts. Would be strange if they charged you for a new chassis because you'd nudged a bollard in a car park.

Cars are not personal electronics.

 

[akash.nu]

Yep. According to repair shops, Apple made three design mistakes in the 6 and 6 Plus:

• Removed a metal shield that gave the board more stiffness.
• Left out the usual chip underfill which provides extra connection security.
• Made a phone body from too soft material, with a brace design flaw.

These problem areas were all changed or fixed in later models.

All of these points ️ are valid. Although in my case my 6 is holding up just fine without any issues whatsoever. Not a single hairline scratch. I suppose it also matters how some people use their phones. Anyway, that's a different discussion.

Recalls are also done to avoid legal actions.

As for those who claim this is a rare problem, even super pro-Apple site AI pointed out back in August that up to 22% of Genius Bar appointments in stores they surveyed, were about Touch Disease.

Everyone makes software or hardware mistakes. What matters is how a company takes responsibility afterwards.

For better or worse, Apple has a rep for either ignoring problems, dismissing problems as caused by users, or offering weak remedies. I had hoped that Cook would try to change this perception.

Generally I haven't seen any multinational company recalling to "avoid" legal actions to be honest. Mostly they only act when there is a class action lawsuit and the chances of the court favouring them is really low.

But yes, I hoped Apple would change for the better under Tim, doesn't look like it's going that way. Apple as a company just don't have that passionate leadership.

 

[Princejb134]

Kinda sad I agree with you. I love apple or used to love them. iPhone 6s, iPad Air 2, 2014 MacBook Pro and I'm even subscriberd to Apple Music. Lately I been feeling dissatisfied with them so I been thinking of switching over sadly.

only apple would charge for something thats clearly their fault and makes it sound like a good deed!

i hate them so much nowadays, they are literally the worst from a customer point of view now. its sad really, too bad i still like their products but not anything else the company stamds for now.

 

[litmag01]

Id like to see the science Apple used to determine this issue was exclusively caused by dropping. This can just as easily be a temperature issue or board flex issue caused by an arguably over-thin device.

 

[Sedulous]

Does anyone know if they actually repair the logic board or do they simply swap the device?

Apple would provide a refurbished phone. Refurbished devices may be composed of new and used parts. Not sure what Apple does with damaged iPhone boards. I would guess they trash them like they do with computer boards.

 

[profets]

Would never pay 400$ for repairing a 6, that's more than what it's worth.
Get something else (either iPhone or Android, it's really not that huge difference anymore), throw the 6 in the drawer and wait for the class action lawsuit. Apple will have to issue a free repair program, just a matter of time.

Well, it was $400 in Canadian dollars, and the value obviously came into the decision as to whether to replace it for $400 or purchase something else / new. They thought about getting a 7 Plus, but a 128GB model (same as the 6 Plus they had) would be ~$1200 including tax. They needed a phone, and worse case, the used market where we are you could definite get ~$600 for a used iPhone 6 Plus 128GB.

Regardless, it looks like they'll get the difference back ($189 CAD is the cost for this repair program in Canada).

 

[sracer]

The lack of a full recall is the natural result of having a gargantuan customer base.

Apple couldn't do so without incurring a huge financial hit. That is why they won't do it. Look at what the exploding Note 7 recall did to Samsung financially.

Frankly, Apple has considered all aspects of the issue and have concluded that it is better for them all around to set up a repair program like this.

For all of the harrumphing going on about never buying an iPhone again, the truth of the matter is, only a very small percentage of those people actually follow through. That percentage is so small that the impact to Apple's financial bottom line is within the margin of a rounding error.

This is no different than what is going on with the newly released Macbook Pros. If people complain but buy the product anyways, their complaints have been nullified.

But I do find it interesting that some of the same people who dismissed the bending of the iPhone 6 when it was first released as "sensationalism with no practical application" are now discovering "touch disease" and that it may be caused by flexing of the phone.