Apple Says Some 2018 iPad Pros Ship Bent, But It's Normal and Not a Defect

[Royksöpp]

This will not go over well. I expect a full retraction within the next couple of weeks or month at the most. They’re probably scrambling to figure out a plan of action. They have not one, but two iPad fiascos going on at the moment: Bright Spots and Bending. Unacceptable.

 

[SDColorado]

I agree, the "return it and shut up" crowd is my favorite too. So we should just sweep unacceptable corporate behavior under the rug? And even if so, what alternative exists in the Apple ecosystem? None.

It is a bit like grocery store self-checkout, where you as a customer are paying not only for your groceries but to be your own cashier. Cheaper for the store.

In this case, you as a customer are not only paying for the device you just purchased but to also do the job of QC and weed out the bent iPads and return them. Apple probably figured that it is cheaper to do that than it is to pay for the quality control it would require to have the bent ones weeded out prior to boxing and shipping. Let the customer buy them and sort them out.

That seems to be the way things are going. Restaurants are starting to put in these tableside devices where you place your own order too.

 

[Kramerjn]

That's pretty bad, and a really bad response by Apple. Could you even fit the iPad in the picture in a hardshell case? Not good. Not good at all...

 

[needsomecoffee]

what in the **** is Apple doing with all that money?

Stock buy backs. Will be nearly $1 Trillion once they finish repatriating their foreign profits. If interested, find some recent announcements about project Malta from Google (Alphabet X). Founder clearly states that without Google's moonshot investment, they would not have the opportunity to bring a potentially world-changing energy storage system to market. Hate Google all you want, but their founders and leaders have done a lot more than Tim & Co. with hundreds of billions of profits.

 

[mikethemartian]

Aren’t you getting a bit semantical tho?

Many of them are shipping with problems and they have the fruit logo on the back

Whether you wanna blame the overworked $2/hr child intern at Foxconn or a person/group of people at Cupertino.

The end result is the same.

Cook is going to fire that kid if he doesn’t sign a letter of apology.

 

[1144557]

It is a bit like grocery store self-checkout, where you as a customer are paying not only for your groceries but to be your own cashier. Cheaper for the store.

In this case, you as a customer are not only paying for the device you just purchased but to also do the job of QC and weed out the bent iPads and return them. Apple probably figured that it is cheaper to do that than it is to pay for the quality control it would require to have the bent ones weeded out prior to boxing and shipping. Let the customer buy them and sort them out.

That seems to be the way things are going. Restaurants are starting to put in these tableside devices where you place your own order too.

It's just funny that smaller (relatively compared to Apple and their worth) companies like Huawei and Xiomi can put out $300 budget devices with aluminum frame/back and they aren't bent out of the box.

It's not about profit margins it's about giving 2 craps about your customer (no I dont think any company cares about you or I, I'm a realist, but at least some company pride putting out a decent product) and the product you are putting out.

Something Apple has lost in its rise to a trillion; it's "gotten too big for its britches." At least with antennagate, they sucked it up held a public event to explain the issue and what was happening, and gave away tens of millions of dollars in free cases. They tried to make people happy even if the explanation was a bit lame and the whole "dont hold it like that."

There is no fix for an arguably damaged product. And people dont seem to think about other thigs, like how long before the adhesives get weak with the force from that slight bend and things start separating; like display from chassis or bending the internals like the boards from flex. Apple wont be replacing your device then and calling it anything but user damaged.

 

[x-evil-x]

The Apple I remember held off releasing the iPhone 4 in white for over 10 months because they couldn’t get the colour just quite right.

and also released iPhone 4 with antenna band issues. You're holding it wrong campaign. I got a free bumper case from it.

 

[Robraeil]

A bend out of the box is a defect. Stop being cheap, Tim. Take care of your customers.

No! I just want your money! Tom says.
It is unfortunate that a huge company like apple treats people like ****. First they charge more for less or same product then they give less service, they lie about fixes that can be done on products and want to make you pay more for fixes you don’t need. More more more.
Apple is the biggest scam artist that I know

 

[MacDonaldTrump]

I think


I was literally just wondering that too

I think there's a VERY good chance it will be updated in 2019.

Whereas before maybe the roadmap was another 1.5 years like 2nd to 3rd gen, I'd say the next one will come in <12 months. Maybe early summer.

Great let’s rush another production

 

[TheWizardRingwall]

You know what, I need to draw the line here. This iPad Pro cost me $2000, it does exactly the same things as my four year old iPad which only cost me $500 at the time, and I'm too scared of being affected by one of these quality issues like I just went through with my 5K iMac because Apple support is so poor now. I think I will try a souped up windows tablet running macOS inside a VM. It's sad to see such unrealized potential with a product like iPad. Give me floating windows, mouse support, launch hardware that's built properly, and you'll get all of my money Apple!

I'm a professional video editor that used only apple for 20 years. My fully loaded Imac (prior to 5k) screen died during warranty period, they fixed it. Then it broke again after the warranty expired the cost of repair was almost $1000 bucks. Um, to fix a three year old computer monitor the cost is the same as a 60 inch 4k TV or as much as a new pc gaming laptop that outperforms my three year old Monster. That was also my last straw with Apple. A friend who runs an editing studio had 7 imacs of the same vintage as mine. They all died of the same issue. At almost 7 grand a pop, do you think my friend returned to Apple and bought 7 new imacs? Yeah no. I built them pc's for 4 grand that run circles around the macs. When something is wrong we replace the item. That being said I've literally never in my entire life had a computer monitor just stop working. So the Imac, one of the most expensive computers I've ever purchased the monitor lasted less than three years? My new build has .12 gb Titan card and a 49inch wide-screen monitor and costs less than a loaded Imac by a third. Guess which performs better. My last build rendered footage daily for 6 years and only was replaced because I wanted something smaller and cooler running. The chat of the filly loaded iPhone max plus apple care I'm Canada is going on three thousand dollars. Sorry apple, with the quality of your products lately, there is no way I will spend large money like that when you're phone does nothing my free upgrade huawei p20 pro can do, except take worse pictures.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

What I would like to see/read, is a _real_ (Not a Macrumors member guess) engineer that understands this type of manufacturing, and if they could comment specifically if this seems accurate to what Apple is describing reference the bending in the aluminum, And is it considered ‘Normal.’

Apple are absolutely correct to state that it is normal for frame of an ipad to be bent after manufacture.
However QC engineers should need to use tools to measure the extent of the bend.
For an item such as this to be visibly bent indicates lack of control of the manufacturing process.

 

[thadoggfather]

Great let’s rush another production

Apple may have been asleep at the wheel for a year and then rushed the iPP 2018, but they did have at absolute minimum year and a half to get it together from when the 2017 2nd gen came out and likely even longer since they get started on new generations before the upcoming one is even out

iPad 3 to iPad 4 went smoothly despite the narrow time between cycles.

 

[forerunnerg34]

This is normal, for Apple. They know many of their customers will keep buying regardless of quality, value and price, some people only need the Apple logo.

 

[PlayUltimate]

Tim won't take care of the customers. He's like the ex-Pepsi CEO of Apple that almost ran Apple out of business because he fleeced customers and had no clear product plan. Sounds like Tim.......

Sadly, I have been having similar thoughts. When Jobs returned he killed off many loved products (Newton) and simplified the product line. Bloat seems to have returned to the product line. And thus increased QC issues.
Albeit, who knows how extensive the problem really is; anti-Apple headlines seem to get a lot of clicks.

 

[Cloudane]

"Apple is expensive because of the great customer service and build quality!"

 

[PlayUltimate]

Tell me about it. Hopefully we can get Tim out at the next shareholder meeting and get someone in who actually knows what he is doing.

Even though I have concerns about Tim as a CEO, as a product supply guy he knows very much what he is doing. It is arguable that he helped save Apple just as much as SJ.

 

[czoli]

I had a 6S and I remember being in Asia when the touch screen stopped working, called Apple and whilst still under warranty they asked me something like 485 USD to repair it (almost 2 years old, under mandatory 24 months european warranty, purchased from Apple store).

I had it repaired at my expense in a third party repair shop (re-flow of the touch IC) but it last only 1 week. In the end had to sell it as "parts", couple months later apple lost a class action about it but was too late for me, they managed to screw me big time.

Anyways The Last Apple device I personally owned, looks like they did not loose this habit.

 

[avatar77]

Take heed, Apple: when you've lost the commentariat at MacRumors, you've lost the war.

 

[iZac]

Okay, you got my upvote for saying, "Liquid Metal". Thought this forum had forgotten it's prior obsession

But the SIM eject tool! Legend has it, using it in a homemade compass will lead you to the mythical Liquid Metal iPhone 4 Jobs Edition.

 

[ChrisChaval]

That's pretty bad, and a really bad response by Apple. Could you even fit the iPad in the picture in a hardshell case? Not good. Not good at all...

Redeem your personalized hard shell case now, carefully bent to perfectly fit your iPad

 

[PlayUltimate]

Defect or design flaw or whatever you want to call it, give me one way in which a very very minutely curved iPad such as the one who in the photo at all affect the iPads ability to complete its designed tasks. Mountain out of a molehill folks. I own one and seriously couldn't care less if it has a slight curve to it. It probably has one and I haven't even noticed it....

I can understand both sides. . . . the bend is like not a bend but a warp. And does not affect function. Regardless, it would be better to not have a warp in the device.

 

[MarioPhone96]

I really am not surprised. Apple keeps making the iPad bodies larger while keeping the same fragile 6000 series aluminum on them and making them thinner. It doesn’t look like it has any structural support inside based off iFixit teardown photos either.

 

[TheWizardRingwall]

Shortly after the new 2018 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models shipped out to customers, some MacRumors readers found bends in their tablets. Unsurprisingly, new iPad owners were upset and disappointed to find unwanted defects in devices that cost hundreds of dollars, but according to new information from Apple, a slight bend isn't out of the ordinary.

Apple told The Verge that some 2018 iPad Pro models are indeed shipping with a "very slight bend in the aluminum chassis," which is a "side effect of the manufacturing process" that is not expected to worsen over time or negatively effect the iPad's performance "in any practical way."

Image via MacRumors reader Bwrin1​

Apple says the bend, which can impact both sizes of the new 2018 iPad Pro models, is caused by a cooling process involving the iPad Pro's metal and plastic components during manufacturing. Apple told The Verge that the bend is not considered to be a defect.

2018 iPad Pro models that are exhibiting this problem have it right out of the box, according to Apple, so it does not appear to be an issue that shows up over time. There were videos indicating that the new iPad Pro models bend more easily than other models, but Apple says that concerns over the iPad Pro's "structural rigidity" are "unfounded" and that it "stands by the product." Apple has not experienced higher-than-normal return rates for the 2018 iPad Pro.

The Verge suggests that those who are irritated by the bend "shouldn't have any trouble exchanging or returning" an iPad Pro at an Apple Store, but that statement likely only applies to devices that are still under the return policy. Apple typically does not replace devices experiencing issues that are not considered manufacturing defects, so it's not entirely clear if those with bent tablets outside of the return period will be able to get replacements.

Apple experienced major consumer outcry over a "bendgate" controversy with the iPhone 6 Plus, which saw that iPhone bending due to regular use. Apple rectified the problem with later iPhone models, and given the concern over the potential for a similar issue, it's no surprise that Apple is attempting to reassure customers that this is a manufacturing issue that won't worsen over time.

Despite the fact that iPad Pro models experiencing this minor bend allegedly won't end up with future problems because of it, many iPad Pro users may be unhappy with the slight cosmetic and functional problems caused by an uneven surface.

Article Link: Apple Says Some 2018 iPad Pros Ship Bent, But It's Normal and Not a Defect

Thank god my loclal staples and chapters still sells 2016 models for 10 dollars off.

 

[tuna9720]

It would be one of the funniest, if it was an April Fools' joke..
Otherwise it's probably one of the most idiotic statements ever..

Go Apple, what's next?

"No show in the brand new Mac box is Normal.. Yes normal!"

 

[UK-MacAddict]

Increasing the prices but reducing the quality and calling it normal, bravo Apple.