Apple Watch Series 4 - Broken Glass Issues

[MattX123]

Hi there,

a couple of weeks ago I recognized that the glass of my Watch S4 (alu) was broken and I have no clue where this could have happened. After that I started research how to repair and how many other people seem having the same issue. At first the repair is almost impossible, even when there are a few guys who managed it, but you need to be very handy and the luck must be on your side. I tried it on my own and completed almost 70% of the glass exchange process and after that my display was broken with 2 vertikal white lines on it. So I gave up and bought reluctantly a new watch. After that I checked ebay and other second hand markets and was surprised how many S4 seem to have the broken glass issue. I´ve had all other watch models before and never had this problem. So for me it seems that Apple bought this new larger display together with a big lack of stability. In my opinion for a watch which is promoted as a sport watch this is absolutely a no go!!!

What are your experiences with this?

BTW my new one is a S4 with stainless steel body and sapphire glass. Does anybody know if this is better regarding the broken glass issue?

Cheers
Matthias

 

[Newtons Apple]

Pictures would help. If a single break with no indication of impact, Apple might replace it. If it looks like impact damage, just buy another watch.

 

[MattX123]

It seems that there was an impact on the bottom left side but it can´t be very strong otherwise I would have recognized. Apple declined my request.

Attached a few pics...

 

[44267547]

It seems that there was an impact on the bottom left side but it can´t be very strong otherwise I would have recognized. Apple declined my request.

Attached a few pics...

This is very clear how it happened, you can see how the impact started on the lower left-hand corner of the display, and spiderwebbed up through the display. You obviously hit it on something without you knowing it or dropped it. The Apple Watch is still pretty durable, but obviously it’s not rated against every surface type when you Inadvertently hit it on something. I don’t think you really can blame Apple for your own mistake here.

 

[MattX123]

But when the glass is so fragile it shouldn´t be used in a sport watch for more than 500 bucks. Imagine how easy you come in contact with parts of a gym machine for example or how fast you hit a door trim or a door handle in every day usage...

My conclusion is that I can´t use this watch without a bumper or any other kind of protection in the future anymore, which isn´t quite sexy to be honest. As long as watches are on the market, stability is a very important feature. Other devices like the Samsung Galaxy Watch have a metal ring (bezel) around the glass which is a good protection for lateral impacts like in my case.

I really hope that Apple will adress this issue in the future.

 

[the future]

It the Watch was „so fragile“, there would be way more cases like yours and you would read about it all over the internet. You just had some bad luck, which sucks, obviously, but is in no way an indicator that the Watch is fragile. Best you can do is get Apple Care and just use the Watch as you‘ve always done. There is no other smart watch on the market worth buying anyway.

 

[T5BRICK]

Sapphire will break too if you aren’t careful. Don’t hit your Apple Watch on hard objects and it won’t break.

 

[Significant1]

But when the glass is so fragile it shouldn´t be used in a sport watch for more than 500 bucks. Imagine how easy you come in contact with parts of a gym machine for example or how fast you hit a door trim or a door handle in every day usage...

My conclusion is that I can´t use this watch without a bumper or any other kind of protection in the future anymore, which isn´t quite sexy to be honest. As long as watches are on the market, stability is a very important feature. Other devices like the Samsung Galaxy Watch have a metal ring (bezel) around the glass which is a good protection for lateral impacts like in my case.

I really hope that Apple will adress this issue in the future.

What did you expect with edge to edge glass. It is perfectly fine for many types of sport and mine is stil in perfect condition, but yes, if you expect hit metal you should buy a bumper or another type of watch with better protection. Safire is more brittle, but tougher regarding scratches.

 

[preston66002425]

better get some SUPCASE watch band! It makes your iwatch like Gshock tho