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

[Rocketman]

Plenty of Apple critics claim Apple is greedy simply because they have selected 40% as their margin target. Gents, this allows them to have a healthy R&D expense, plenty of engineering expertise, massive new project initiatives, and of course error correction ability.

This issue whatever it is is being addressed by Apple with a process that is repeatable across many units worldwide. Whether it is user induced or an engineering defect, it may be both, is not important. The fact it is being addressed is.

At least they are not catching fire and taking down lots of personal property in the process.

 

[macfacts]

Since the iPhone 6 is so old now, any speculation if apple is making a profit by charging people $150 for repairs?

 

[0958400]

It's alive! It reacts! Oh Apple that took quite long.

I've loved Apple. I hate what it has become.

 

[Sedulous]

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.

I agree, Apple's self-destructive impulse to make overly thin devices put them in this position. Not sure why they also did not include any other cause of board flexing (as that is obviously the fundamental problem).

 

[BeefCake 15]

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.

Make a video of the problem with another device and show them, that's what I did. I did have AppleCare which certainly helps but it wouldn't hurt to try even if you don't have it as they're usually generous with mfg defects.

Also, they won't give you a refurbished as they are aware of the problem from my interaction with the last "Genius" and he gave me a replacement that was mfg. a month prior that supposedly had the flaw fixed on the line.

 

[Strugz10]

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.

Ok, thanks for the info!

 

[kdarling]

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

Nobody said it was a factory defect. That implies the design was good but the production was faulty.

In this case, there appear to be design decisions that cause the problem.

In the end, it is a question of reasonable expectation. Should Apple expect people to sit on their iPhone?

Yes. Every manufacturer expects that. Apple even showed off their expectation to journalists:

"...there's what's known as a "sit test," which simulates the stresses iPhones undergo while in pockets. And not just any pockets, either. There's a test for when people sit on a soft surface, when the iPhone is sat on, as well as what Apple considers the "worst-case scenario," which is when it goes into the rear pocket of skinny jeans and sits on a hard surface — at an angle."

Inside the Building where Apple Tortures the iPhone 6 - The Verge

 

[Sasparilla]

This is worse than "You're holding it wrong." At least Jobs issued free cases to iPhone 4 owners.

$149 to fix a defective product has the fingerprints of a tunnel vision CEO all over it.

It's important to remember Jobs did not do that initially and first tried to blame their design oversight as being the fault of the consumer.

Apple does come around on things, eventually, if its high visibility enough (there's been tons of Mac issues over time where sometimes they fix it and sometimes don't - with many people saying don't get the 1st iteration of large redesigns on the Mac) - but not owning up to their own issues (at least initially) is part of the company's culture and one that Mr. Cook should have changed. JMHO.... Apple shouldn't be making Samsung (and Microsoft's Xbox 360 replacement) look good (neither of which were actually good) - this is an easy call, they should fix these no cost to the buyer.

 

[melendezest]

You have got to love all the Apple cheerleaders here. Seriously, it's freaking hilarious to watch.

Apple charging for this is BS, plain and simple.

If this issue is supposedly caused by dropping the phone (exposing a design flaw), and it occurs out-of-the-box, then maybe boxes got dropped in shipping. It's a long way from China to the US/rest-of-the-world.

But the cheerleaders love to blame the victim, just like people who blame a woman for getting raped because her skirt was "too short".

Ridiculous.

Please, just don't argue with these people. I'm laughing too hard and I need to breathe.

 

[akash.nu]

Plenty of Apple critics claim Apple is greedy simply because they have selected 40% as their margin target. Gents, this allows them to have a healthy R&D expense, plenty of engineering expertise, massive new project initiatives, and of course error correction ability.

This issue whatever it is is being addressed by Apple with a process that is repeatable across many units worldwide. Whether it is user induced or an engineering defect, it may be both, is not important. The fact it is being addressed is.

At least they are not catching fire and taking down lots of personal property in the process.

This is where I think the consumers like you need to look beyond a little bit. The point is not that "it is being addressed". The point is how it is being addressed. Charging consumers for a failure that caused due to a manufacturing issue is not what any self respecting company should do. Especially when Apple as a company is the best rated company in consumer satisfaction.

 

[mt0trip]

What about the iPhone 6. Mine has this, can we get iPhone 6 fixed as well?

 

[MH01]

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.

Fair enough. Though that further points to the fact the issue was corrected in later builds

 

[craigh1976]

So, I'm supposed to own a phone that is slick as grease for two years and be expected to never drop it? Come on, live in the real world. My old 6 Plus has this problem, and it has been dropped, but rarely. In fact, I've dropped all of my iPhones on occasion and this is the first time this problem has arisen. Stop trying to blame the consumer.

 

[MH01]

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.



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.

Agree. Im just pointing out that the cost or apple would be huge if they had to provide replacement units based on the huge amount of units sold

 

[Sedulous]

You have got to love all the Apple cheerleaders here. Seriously, it's freaking hilarious to watch.

Apple charging for this is BS, plain and simple.

If this issue is supposedly caused by dropping the phone (exposing a design flaw), and it occurs out-of-the-box, then maybe boxes got dropped in shipping. It's a long way from China to the US/rest-of-the-world.

But the cheerleaders love to blame the victim, just like people who blame a woman for getting raped because her skirt was "too short".

Ridiculous.

Please, just don't argue with these people. I'm laughing too hard and I need to breathe.

It isn't observed in "fresh from factory" units. Refurbished units apparently have but I honestly am unaware of frequency.

 

[MH01]

It isn't observed in "fresh from factory" units. Refurbished units apparently have but I honestly am unaware of frequency.

That is logical cause the issues were corrected in the manufacturing process once the issue was identified. Therefore new units will not be affected, unless you buy a new unit that was from the earlier batches. Refurbished units are affected cause these are reused.

I remember seeing that 11% of iPhone repairs are related to this. Plenty of articles on this, and the consensus is that its being treated as a defect.

Though this is apple, they will refuse to accept it, until cornered , and by that stage they hope people have sold or stop using the iPhone 6 , same I have experienced with Faulty Nvidia GPUs etc in the past.....by the time Apple accepted the fault and offered to fix it, I had sold my unit.

 

[melendezest]

It isn't observed in "fresh from factory" units. Refurbished units apparently have but I honestly am unaware of frequency.

Well, there is a post here where someone points out that it happened at the Apple Store, when the Genius was setting up his/her brand-new phone.

So there are two possibilities:

1. The previous poster lied about his experience just to spite Apple users here

2. The previous poster's report is truthful, and coincidentally consistent with the widespread reports of a design flaw

I find no. 2 to be more likely, but then again, I'm not an Apple cheerleader.
[doublepost=1479478757][/doublepost]

So, I'm supposed to own a phone that is slick as grease for two years and be expected to never drop it? Come on, live in the real world. My old 6 Plus has this problem, and it has been dropped, but rarely. In fact, I've dropped all of my iPhones on occasion and this is the first time this problem has arisen. Stop trying to blame the consumer.

Exactly. Apparently, the 6 Plus is the most fragile phone EVER made.

And apparently, that is the consumer's fault too.

 

[Artofilm]

lol I've had 4 iPhone 6 plus phones that have had this issue, all within their 90 days warranty. No way I will ever be paying to fix Apple's shoddy phone build. This has nothing to do with dropping the phone, I've had multiple phones now that have had this issue before I've even had the chance to restore the phone from backup the same day I got it.

They shouldn't be charging for this, they should be paying out to the customer affected.

 

[trifid]

You have got to love all the Apple cheerleaders here. Seriously, it's freaking hilarious to watch.

Apple charging for this is BS, plain and simple.

If this issue is supposedly caused by dropping the phone (exposing a design flaw), and it occurs out-of-the-box, then maybe boxes got dropped in shipping. It's a long way from China to the US/rest-of-the-world.

But the cheerleaders love to blame the victim, just like people who blame a woman for getting raped because her skirt was "too short".

Ridiculous.

Please, just don't argue with these people. I'm laughing too hard and I need to breathe.

lol Apple cheerleaders

 

[kdarling]

Plenty of Apple critics claim Apple is greedy simply because they have selected 40% as their margin target. Gents, this allows them to have a healthy R&D expense, plenty of engineering expertise, massive new project initiatives, and of course error correction ability.

No, a 10% profit margin allows that. 40% puts an extra couple hundred billion in overseas held bank accounts, where it's barely used by Apple.

This issue whatever it is is being addressed by Apple with a process that is repeatable across many units worldwide. Whether it is user induced or an engineering defect, it may be both, is not important. The fact it is being addressed is.

Yes, and how it's addressed is also important.

At least they are not catching fire and taking down lots of personal property in the process.

Apple has had plenty of those as well, and half the time it took a class action to get a response from them.

 

[noslenam]

I've been using apple products for years now. I still have my original iPhone, my G4, G5 two MacBook Pro laptops and currently the owner of the iPhone 6plus S.
my iPhone 6 Plus had issues and I was even able to replicate it to the so called Genius Bar staff. My 6 Plus would lock up and stop working and become unresponsive to any touch input for mintutes at a time.
Their only response was you can buy another replacement phone or get a new 6plus S at full price. After about an hour of trying to deal with the store I left with a new iPhone 6 Plus S and paid full price. I was out of town for work and needed a phone so I really had no choice.
I am now having issues with my 6 Plus S as well. The phone has never been dropped and always in a very sturdy case. I now have issues with my phone, it will become unresponsive to and touch commands and will stay that way for about 1-2 minutes before it becomes responsive again.
I have become annoyed with Apple over the past few years. I don't mind paying a premium for a great product but the last few years I feel like I'm paying for nothing but profits.
I just purchased my son a new laptop other than a MacBook for the first time in years and it's all due to lack of customer care and over priced products. I'm currently in the market for a new desktop and I am also for the first time in over 14 years looking at PC versions that are more powerful and less expensive.
My next phone may also be something other that an iPhone as well. Tired of the overpriced lack of support service from apple.
Don't tell me that there service is great because they charge you for everything. Warranties don't every seem to cover any of the issues I have.
Very frustrated apple user and soon to be anything but an apple user.

 

[8692574]

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.

People that don't agree with you / Apple are not necessarily haters, just saying...

 

[thespacekid]

Why can't the phone survive hard drops where the case isn't damaged? Is a connector becoming disconnected? Sounds like a design issue.
[doublepost=1479480734][/doublepost]

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.

The phone should be able to survive this. Sounds like a connector is becoming disconnected. Should be better secured.

 

[BootsWalking]

Plenty of Apple critics claim Apple is greedy simply because they have selected 40% as their margin target. Gents, this allows them to have a healthy R&D expense, plenty of engineering expertise, massive new project initiatives, and of course error correction ability.

People don't begrudge Apple their 40% margin. They begrudge Apple doing anything to maintain it, including customer-antagonistic service decisions like the one highlighted in this story.

At least they are not catching fire and taking down lots of personal property in the process.

A phone with a malfunctioning touchscreen that the customer doesn't pay to get fixed wont be powered on anyway so this point is moot for those owners.

 

[tentales]

No, a 10% profit margin allows that. 40% puts an extra couple hundred billion in overseas held bank accounts, where it's barely used by Apple.

Hmm, I would venture, it's used to keep Irish economic ministers and their staff happy

Seriously though, Apple "borrows" billions of $$$ against its offshore wealth by issuing bonds for things like share buybacks.
Borrowing costs are creatively offset against state-side profits to minimize tax burden. Same game many big companies play.

Maybe if interest rates go up this practice will stop, but without a deal thru Congress, Apple won't be on-shoring any overseas profits anytime soon.

On the other note, Apple profit margins on services is more like 60% and if they'd have put all those additional billions into R&D, you'd think we'd have better products to show for. Instead, Apple's getting out of Displays, Mac Minis, Pros, and whatever other higher cost/low-margin/low-revenue-share products they've been involved with in the past.