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

[Educ8r]

Original iPhone 6 Plus got the blue screen of death, was replaced. The replacement had the "touch disease" after the 90 day warranty. I had to purchase another replacement for $350. Believe it or not the 2nd replacement also had the "touch disease." Fortunately Verizon let me trade it in on a 6 Plus S. That will be my last Apple phone. Was hoping that the class action lawsuit would go through.

 

[blacktape242]

Apple will fix it for $149... how generous of them

Now THAT takes courage!

 

[FreshFries]

I have a 6 plus and my screen pops up a white box and flickers and this is my second plus that is doing it and it's a certified replacement from apple! Also apple doesn't know what's the problem

 

[akash.nu]

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.

If you've been on Apple ecosystem for this long you will struggle with anything else. You only know the value of what you've got once you don't have it anymore.

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.

I understand you're frustrated but the support out there from other companies are worse than Apple. Take my word for it. There's only one choice in the smartphone industry now other than Apple, and that is Android. When you buy an Android device you don't get a solid support either because carriers send you to the manufacturing company and manufacturing company send you back to the carrier. Also not to forget a nonexistent ecosystem. Life is tough out there oh fellow Apple consumer.

 

[macduke]

I have owned every generation of the iPhone except the 5s. The 6 Plus is by far the worst iPhone I have ever owned. It was plagued by constant issues and I didn't even have this touch disease.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Just out of curiosity, wanted to see what the current trade in is for the 6 Plus (under AT&T)
A 64GB Space Gray, Good condition...NO Touch issues right now.

$180 trade in at ATT
$225 from Apple (Brightstar)
$230 at Best Buy..which is not TOO bad for a 2 year+ old phone.

Now the question becomes..trade in the 6 Plus now and avoid a possible $150 repair problem, repair obviously is over 1/2 of what the value of the phone is right now...if you did the trade in and it's on a carrier.

Risk it..wait until Sept 2017 for the 8 (or something else?) - and hope there is no issue between now and next year... drop money on a phone that will continue to devalue as weeks and months pass.

I keep thinking...I haven't had the Touch IC problem, but hey..it might show up at any given moment for no rhyme or reason. Then the value of that now useless phone becomes close to $0.

It's a legit gamble.

If the repair was $0, as it should be...I wouldn't be dwelling on this right now.

ATT

Best Buy

 

[FrenchRoasted]

Anecdote++ here. My iPhone 6 started having phantom touches (opposite of freezing), but luckily I took it in within a year and was offered a free replacement. I went with the (nearly) free upgrade to the 7 from Verizon. Really happy with this version so far.

 

[Moorepheus]

Repeated drops, I call it BS!!!! I had my 6 Plus for maybe 6 months before the Touch disease started on my phone. Never dropped my phone, not even once. At the time, I just thought it was a glitch and waited for iOS updates. Also, the only solution for me, was to turn off the phone and turn it back on. So as updates where releases, and the 6s came out, the disease was getting progressively worse, like once a day. So, now I was out of warranty, so I went with my AT&T warranty plan, and they sent me a 6s Plus as a replacement (for $100 at the time). I can tell you, I have never dropped my phone, not even by accident. I call this out as BS. These phones should be fixed for FREE, not charging these people 150 for the repair. This is a FACTORY DEFECT, and not some "OH, THEY DROPPED THEIR PHONE REPEATLY". BS APPLE.

 

[kdarling]

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

Yep. Here's what happens. Many of today's chips have so many connectors, that they're placed underneath in what's known as a BGA (ball grid array). Here is the touch controller desoldered from its pad on the board:



Now, normally to prevent the balls from coming loose because of circuit board flex, thermal expansion, etc... a polymer called "underfill" is injected underneath.



This stabilizes the connection points.

In addition, in previous iPhones, there was a full metal shield that helped make the board more rigid:



But in the iPhone 6, BOTH the full shield AND the underfill were designed out



Those board design decisions, along with a comparatively weak case with a mechanical brace design mistake (Bendgate), allow the board to flex and the BGA solder joints to separate over time.

It's probably not even a question of IF it will happen, but more of WHEN it will happen. Thermal expansion alone could cause it sooner or later, much less any natural flexing during normal use.

Hmm. I think what might have happened, was that Apple was planning to begin using spray top coatings that can double as a shield and a kind of overlayment brace, but had not quite gotten to that point for some reason. IIRC, some avionics makers have gone to this method.

 

[Saturn007]

Is there any connection between all this and Apple's new offerings of refurbished iPhone 6s and 6s+s?!

Or, have those models been free of the problem?

 

[2IS]

"some iPhone 6 Plus devices may exhibit Multi-Touch issues after "being dropped multiple times on a hard surface," causing damage to the device."

Apple's customer service fixes the stupidity of many yet again. You drop it, you pay for it. Sucks to be clumsy, Apple shouldn't have to do this, but they are and that's one reason why I stick with them.

I wonder how much Apple would charge to fix the stupidity of people who don't even understand the problem...

 

[Robinmarylarson]

This is so unfair to the people who put money out to have their phone screen fixed as that is what is perceived to be the problem. If screens are $100 the money is wasted being that that is not the true problem. They end up leaving without a fix- a phone that only responds to Suri. An incoming call cannot be answered and phone calls requiring numbers to direct the call to a specific department cannot be made plus the hassle of not have access to the apps, internet or photos. A phone costing $850 should be made with quality parts! Of course the phone may drop- People carry them everywhere they go and if there are children around that increases the chance it will drop here and there. The phone should be made structurally sound- to accommodate life- not reckless damage but just regular life.

Not backing the chips with a solid material is just Apple saving a dollar. I cannot understand why Apple thinks customers should pay for what could have been avoided with a stronger structure! Come on Apple I have iPads, desk top, laptop and every version of Iphone- I want to be loyal but I have a hard time believing this was not foreseen and I don't fee like I can trust your products. Please do the right thing and just admit you made an error using a flimsy design flaw and fix them at your cost!

 

[InfectedCTRL]

Yeah ... but NO! I'll wait for the lawsuits to resolve first. For now its sitting on the shelf and waiting. You see, this kind of crap can make even the most avid Apple user against them.

 

[Narg]

I wonder if they can fix all those iPhone 7 headphone jacks?

 

[daftpunker909]

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

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

Except that it is a design flaw not caught by Apple during reliability tests. Say what you want about Samsung, but at least they own up to their mistakes whereas Apple tries to even capitalize on their own mistakes. There is no limit to Apple's greed

 

[Krizoitz]

The evidence is clear as day. It happens to people who have never dropped their phones, it happens to phones that are brand new refurbs out of the box. It is a design flaw.

Why should I believe you more than Apple? Why should I take as absolute

1. There's plenty of proof going back since this first emerged.

2. Apple would never admit to a design "limitation" resulting in a net loss of millions in iPhone 6/6+ "repairs" unless there was ample evidence that a court case would cost much more.

3. The iPhone 4 antenna issues were admitted and resolved quickly in comparison by Steve Jobs who offered free cases to customers (and still the 4 and 4s models are considered the best iPhone models to date).

Working in this field, it has corporate "speak" all over it. Cook needs to take a few lessons from Jobs' playbook as he's thinking too much as a bean counter and 15+ years with Apple it pains me to state - the Cupertino spaceship is sinking before it's completion...

1. If there is plenty of proof, then rather than people on this thread simply stating "why don't you believe all the evidence", perhaps they should provide some evidence that people can check?

2. Facts not in evidence. You are stating as fact something that is merely your opinion.

3. There was no iPhone "antenna" issue, just a PR issue. Every phone suffered from the same effect because of physics, Apple just happened to have a compounding issue of a bad software design that overreported the drop in signal.

 

[toph2toast]

If you've been on Apple ecosystem for this long you will struggle with anything else. You only know the value of what you've got once you don't have it anymore.



I understand you're frustrated but the support out their from other companies are worse than Apple. Take my word for it. There's only one choice in the smartphone industry now other than Apple, and that is Android. When you buy an Android device you don't get a solid support either because carriers send you to the manufacturing company and manufacturing company send you back to the carrier. Also not to forget a nonexistent ecosystem. Life is tough out there oh fellow Apple consumer.

I wanted to "second" the comment about other phone manufacturers. My wife has tried to switch over to a Galaxy phone a couple times. However, when her phone breaks, its a dealing with the carrier and manufacturer. She had an issue one time and Samsung said to send it back in a box and they'd look at it. Since I travel a lot for work and our kid is in day care, going without a cell phone for an extended time was not really in the cards. There aren't "Samsung" or "LG" stores that will repair your phone. I don't always agree with what Apple does, and their service fees can be steep, even with Apple Care. But I also know if there is an issue with my phone, I can take drive 30-45 minutes and have it fixed or get a replacement device. Not every Apple customer is close to an Apple store, but on the other side, there are 0 Samsung Retail Stores (at least in the US).

 

[Krizoitz]

Many posters have asserted that they have the problem without abusing their phone or has occurred out of the box. So are you calling them liars? This isn't a court of law in case you hadn't noticed. In any case, your argument cuts both ways - if Apple assert it's our fault let them publish the engineering proof, there are plenty of posters here who have the technical knowledge to assess such information.

So you're argument is I should simply believe random people on the internet claiming something without providing me any proof or evidence to back up their claim? If I tell you I'm a billionaire who masquerades as a crime fighter will you take me at my word too?

And no, it doesn't "cut both ways" like that. If you are going to assert something is a design flaw you have to prove it. Apple doesn't have to prove its not unless you can make a compelling case against them. They are under no obligation to prove to a bunch of people in a forum and provide the evidence for random internet people to evaluate.

If you (or any other poster) want people to take you seriously, then present your case without all the histrionics, without all the assertions of absolute truth, without the "OMG APPLE IS THE WORST" or "OMG TIM COOK JUST WANTS MY MONEY". Seldom in life is it black and white, evil villains vs. virtuous super hero. Or you can keep yelling on the internet. Your choice.

 

[bchreng]

Just out of curiosity, wanted to see what the current trade in is for the 6 Plus (under AT&T)
A 64GB Space Gray, Good condition...NO Touch issues right now.

$180 trade in at ATT
$225 from Apple (Brightstar)
$230 at Best Buy..which is not TOO bad for a 2 year+ old phone.

Now the question becomes..trade in the 6 Plus now and avoid a possible $150 repair problem, repair obviously is over 1/2 of what the value of the phone is right now...if you did the trade in and it's on a carrier.

Risk it..wait until Sept 2017 for the 8 (or something else?) - and hope there is no issue between now and next year... drop money on a phone that will continue to devalue as weeks and months pass.

I keep thinking...I haven't had the Touch IC problem, but hey..it might show up at any given moment for no rhyme or reason. Then the value of that now useless phone becomes close to $0.

It's a legit gamble.

If the repair was $0, as it should be...I wouldn't be dwelling on this right now.

ATT

Best Buy

When the iPhone 7 launched, AT&T had a promo where any iPhone 6 in reasonably good condition had a trade in value of $650.

 

[Sandybox]

So you're argument is I should simply believe random people on the internet claiming something without providing me any proof or evidence to back up their claim? If I tell you I'm a billionaire who masquerades as a crime fighter will you take me at my word too?

And no, it doesn't "cut both ways" like that. If you are going to assert something is a design flaw you have to prove it. Apple doesn't have to prove its not unless you can make a compelling case against them. They are under no obligation to prove to a bunch of people in a forum and provide the evidence for random internet people to evaluate.

If you (or any other poster) want people to take you seriously, then present your case without all the histrionics, without all the assertions of absolute truth, without the "OMG APPLE IS THE WORST" or "OMG TIM COOK JUST WANTS MY MONEY". Seldom in life is it black and white, evil villains vs. virtuous super hero. Or you can keep yelling on the internet. Your choice.

Erm Apple started the argument by saying without proof that it was our fault? You really don't get it do you?
[doublepost=1479487185][/doublepost]

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]
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.

Yet your earlier post said it was nothing to do with the solder? Now you say it does? Also, I guess you didn't know devices are made in BATCHES, they aren't all made the same and hence subject to batch to batch variability and production issues. Keep posting, it's hilarious.

 

[lcseds]

Maybe we should make this a more positive thread. Like, what's the best phone out there that is not made by Apple?

 

[toph2toast]

So you're argument is I should simply believe random people on the internet claiming something without providing me any proof or evidence to back up their claim? If I tell you I'm a billionaire who masquerades as a crime fighter will you take me at my word too?

And no, it doesn't "cut both ways" like that. If you are going to assert something is a design flaw you have to prove it. Apple doesn't have to prove its not unless you can make a compelling case against them. They are under no obligation to prove to a bunch of people in a forum and provide the evidence for random internet people to evaluate.

If you (or any other poster) want people to take you seriously, then present your case without all the histrionics, without all the assertions of absolute truth, without the "OMG APPLE IS THE WORST" or "OMG TIM COOK JUST WANTS MY MONEY". Seldom in life is it black and white, evil villains vs. virtuous super hero. Or you can keep yelling on the internet. Your choice.

So Apple claiming this problem occurs by dropping the phone multiple times without any evidence is enough for you to believe them, but multiple thread posts have mentioned this is has been an out-of-the-box issue and you want evidence to back it up? Kind of a double standard, huh?

 

[erelioperez]

I'm happy to report my phone was replaced free of charge when this issue arose. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones...

 

[deaglecat]

So this year we have :-

Remove headphone jacks from IP7
Tax issues with EU
Macbook pro..which isn't ...and dongle life
Failure to do the right thing with IP6 touch issues
No updates to Mac Mini or IMac
Over inflation price rises

I have to wonder whether Apple realise how "tone deaf" this sort of money grabbing scheme is. Especially in the UK and EU where consumers have rights that go way beyond the warranty period.

 

[kdarling]

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

Ha! To be fair, sometimes they do spend a million here or there overseas to build "development centers" intended to bribe local officials into giving Apple a break. Didn't work in China or India though.

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.

Yep, the interest is used to minimize their US tax costs.

However, they're not borrowing against their offshore wealth. If they were, then they'd have been given a higher risk rating for their bonds. Instead, their bonds are backed only by their future US income, which is dependent on whether or not they can keep sales up and do more innovation.

If there is plenty of proof, then rather than people on this thread simply stating "why don't you believe all the evidence", perhaps they should provide some evidence that people can check?

Question: if I read you correctly, your objection is that you don't believe BGA bond separation can happen without a drop?

There was no iPhone "antenna" issue, just a PR issue. Every phone suffered from the same effect because of physics,

No. Every other phone did NOT have a spot on it where the slightest touch would detune the antenna and cause a call to drop.

You're talking about covering the whole phone with one's hand. That wasn't the problem; that was just misdirection on the part of Jobs.