Apple Returns 5-8 Million Defective iPhones to Foxconn?

MattMJB0188 said:
I am glad I helped contribute towards this. I returned at least 30 iphone 5s. All had some sort of issue out of the box. I officially gave up and will be moving onto the Galaxy S4.
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Please let me know what store you went to that let you return 30 phones.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Many reasons why electronics in high numbers do not get produced in the US:

Not enough workers of the type needed to do these kind of jobs.

Not enough engineers.

Too many restrictions in the US tax issues, etc.etc..raw material already there etc. can't list them all.

We went over that in several threads. In one of them an Obama and Steve Jobs discussion was mentioned.

So, if you'd educate yourself a little bit (CATO institute and others) you may get the real reasons.
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Education & the CATO Institute go together like fish and a bicycle.
 
srxtr said:
I'm on my third iPhone 5.

My coworker is on his third iPhone 5.

My friend is on his third iPhone 5.

Yeah, I'd say production problems...
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Not only iPhone - I'll be on my 4th iPad 4 soon, just returned my 3d one. First had screen issues, the other two suddenly died out of the blue.
 
Guess I am one of the lucky few it seems. Got a perfect iPhone 5 on the first try, and its holding extremely well (comparable to the iPhone 4 which had some scuffs on the sides by the time I got rid of it). Oh and I only use dual plastic protectors for the front and back, and I have already dropped the phone at least 3 times without any major damage to the phone, so for me its been quite good.
 
Sedrick said:
Please let me know what store you went to that let you return 30 phones.
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I find the very suggestion that it took anyone would actually go through 30 returns or exchanges to be amusing. If I went through 2-3 that I deemed unacceptable for whatever reason, that would be it.
 
Quality Control not part of Chinese Thinking

The Chinese have no concern about issues like quality control or concern about business ethics...it is not part of their culture but Apple is so addicted to cheap labor they will make any sacrifice to keep it including running out of inventory of phones.:apple:




MacRumors said:
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According to reports over the weekend from China Business [Google translation] and China Times [Google translation], Apple last month returned at least five million and perhaps as many as eight million iPhones to manufacturing partner Foxconn due to defects in either appearance or operation.

The reports indicate that it will cost Foxconn roughly 200 yuan ($32) per device to correct the issues with the defective iPhones, resulting in a charge of as much as 1.6 billion yuan ($259 million) to address the problem. It is unclear which iPhone models are affected by the issues, but Apple does not appear to be suffering from major shortages of any of its current devices.

The iPhone 5 suffered from quality control issues following its launch, with a number of customers complaining of scratches and other issues with their devices even right out of the box. Foxconn executives acknowledged that the iPhone 5 was a difficult device to assemble, with increased quality control standards contributing to production output below the company's goals.

As a result, it took Apple two and a half months to achieve supply-demand balance for the device, although the company was also pursuing its most aggressive worldwide rollout yet.

Article Link: Apple Returns 5-8 Million Defective iPhones to Foxconn?
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ssgbryan said:
This is what happens when you outsource your manufacturing. Apple is completely at the mercy of Foxconn. What is Apple going do do, switch suppliers?
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Apple has never been at anyone's mercy. Get to know how Apple operates. It's very informative.
 
imgonephishin said:
I mean, I'm glad that Apple takes the customer experience enough to force their suppliers to get things right, but still, how does stuff like this happen at this stage in the game? This story comes right on the heels of news that production difficulties were pushing the launch of the 5S back several months. If there are problems that significant for a minor phone upgrade, what happens with a complete redesign for the iPhone 6? Come on, Apple, get your house in order!
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I, for one am glad APPLE is taking QC to such (sometimes hard to achieve) high levels. They know that their customers expect and indeed 'demand' this, as corroborated by many of the above posts, with some people doing multiple exchanges to get a 'perfect' unit.

I'd say FOXCONN get your house in order.
 
MattMJB0188 said:
I am glad I helped contribute towards this. I returned at least 30 iphone 5s. All had some sort of issue out of the box. I officially gave up and will be moving onto the Galaxy S4.
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Yeah it's crazy. I had to return 31 gs3s before I finally settled on the iPhone 5. :rolleyes:
 
Sedrick said:
Please let me know what store you went to that let you return 30 phones.
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TWSS37 said:
At least? Really? Having worked in retail before, I would have refunded your money at some point around 3 or otherwise drastically reduced your ability to return it without some level of hassle on your end.

The charge backs alone make you unprofitable alone, not to mention selling all of those phones now as 'recertified'.
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So nobody thinks there's even a remote possibility that this guy maybe works for a large organization that bought BB replacments for all of their employees? Is it *that* big of a stretch to think that MAYBE this guy didn't return 30 of these personally, but maybe for a company that he works for? sheesh... so quick to judge people without really knowing...

...even if it was for personal use, if there were obvious flaws and the store kept letting him return them, how does that impact you? So what if they let him return them all... I will still sleep at night.
 
Not surprising at all. They really need to get a grip on quality in general on all their products. I've returned 18 iMac's, 10 Macbook Pros, 7 Macbook Airs, 7 iPads (third generation), and about 9 iPhone 5's. Thats since May 2011. Me and the TNT collection man are like best friends now.

Even the iMac 27 inch (Late 2012) I have now wasnt perfect but the best out of what they had been sending me. Same for my iPhone 5 and iPad. Customers shouldnt have to settle for products with slight defects which they 'can live with'.

The main reason I stay with Apple products is because they do have the best software especially when it comes to Mac OS X. iOS is starting to lag behind Android these days though.
 
UK-MacAddict said:
Not surprising at all. They really need to get a grip on quality in general on all their products. I've returned 18 iMac's, 10 Macbook Pros, 7 Macbook Airs, 7 iPads (third generation), and about 9 iPhone 5's. Thats since May 2011. Me and the TNT collection man are like best friends now.

Even the iMac 27 inch (Late 2012) I have now wasnt perfect but the best out of what they had been sending me. Same for my iPhone 5 and iPad. Customers shouldnt have to settle for products with slight defects which they 'can live with'.

The main reason I stay with Apple products is because they do have the best software especially when it comes to Mac OS X. iOS is starting to lag behind Android these days though.
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If I had to return that many products in 2 years, I would have been long gone, unless you bought hundreds of units?
 
AppleScruff1 said:
If I had to return that many products in 2 years, I would have been long gone, unless you bought hundreds of units?
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Lol nope these were all personal purchases for my home. But like I said I love Mac OS X. I would get a Samsung Galaxy S4 as my main phone but I dont like the fact it wont integrate flawlessly with my macs.
 
UK-MacAddict said:
Lol nope these were all personal purchases for my home. But like I said I love Mac OS X. I would get a Samsung Galaxy S4 as my main phone but I dont like the fact it wont integrate flawlessly with my macs.
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By my count, you returned 51 products. IMO, nothing is worth that much aggravation.
 
I returned 6 iPhone 5s via the Apple Online store in New Zealand. The first 5 had the rear camera totally filled with dust to the point it was pointless taking photos. The 6th on had a perfect camera but there was a good 1cm scratch on the casing near the headset jack. The 7th one was fine but took over a month to get it all sorted.
 
MacRumors said:
Apple last month returned at least five million and perhaps as many as eight million iPhones to manufacturing partner Foxconn due to defects in either appearance or operation.

..., but Apple does not appear to be suffering from major shortages of any of its current devices.
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5-8 million less inventory and no shortages?
Sales must be severely down.
 
bawbac said:
5-8 million less inventory and no shortages?
Sales must be severely down.
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Why don't you take a look at the quarterly earnings call? Seems a much better guideline than an assumption based on an unsubstantiated rumor.

[PS: sales were I up about 7% YoY I seem to recall.... ]

Actually the number that stuck in my head is that if Apple's iPhone sales were flat they'd sell 120M iPhones per year. Nokia in its heyday sold 400M phones (of all kinds) per year, Samsung is going to sell about 500M.

Selling 120M top end phones is pretty fantastic, really.
 
It's a hard fact of the business that almost everything now is made in China. And I'm always wary of products made in China. They almost always seem to suffer from quality. The world would someday be made in China and I'm not really that particularly happy about that because of the made in China's not so good reputation when it comes to quality.

Made in Thailand or Malaysia seem to a lot better off but if an iphone for example would be made right out in the US, I think that'd be a lot better. I wouldn't mind paying a bit more for as long as I can guarantee the quality.
 
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