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Normal wear? After the guy who posted before me who had been wearing his for ONE WHOLE DAY?

I'm sorry but I'm a big Apple fan like any of you, but I will not apologise or rationalise Apple's own *****-ups.

It reminds me of the original White macbook that became totally discolored even after one single week of use. Some people here even suggested that I had to clean my hands and stop eating cheetos. For goodness sake it was a damn industrial design flaw, in which they did not consider the material quality and paint quality and you know, things that people have in their hands, such as sweat and normal skin oils.
 
Literally had mine less than a day and it's started happening to mine.

Wow. If it looks like crap after a day, just imagine how it will look after a year. The entire product may completely disintegrate just in time for you to waste another $600 on AW2. The folks at Apple are quite the genius crew. They know that some consumers will swallow ANYTHING sold in a box with an Apple logo affixed to it.
 
I don't know how to explain this in words, but it seems like my apple watch sport band is loosing a layer of it's plastic or film...Here's a picture it's hard to explain. I got Apple Care+ and such, so it should be covered under it right? Since it came with the watch right? The otherside of the band that you tuck the excess band in it is perfectly fine. It's just the band with the holes.

It all depends upon your definition (and, more importantly, Apple's definition) of wear and tear.

If it's a reasonable result from how you've been using it, you have no case.

If you just wore it - and never brought it into contact with anything else - then you definitely have a case.

The middle ground is more grey (/ gray).
 
Literally had mine less than a day and it's started happening to mine.

Wow, that looks terrible. Been a watch bearer for about 33 years (rubber,plastic,metal) and never seen anything that bad, and especially not considering only one day of use. I don't know what my Microsoft Arc Touch mouse is made of but it is starting to look like that after two years of heavy 5d/week use. Send it back.
 
Got contact from Apple today, engineering people looked over the case and they are going to honor the warranty and send me a new band.
 
There are two issues with the black bands, as you'll see if you read back in the forum a bit. It gets shiny in places where it rubs up against itself. This happens with all the sport bands, but for whatever reason is MUCH more obvious on the black color. However, I'm inclined to say this is normal wear and tear.

The second issue is that the band literally starts to peel away. This is not normal. It's difficult to tell which issue the OP is suffering from, just from the pictures, but if it's the peeling then it will get progressively worse and should be replaced by Apple.
 
If it looks like oil collecting on the strap, it's not a defect. If it looks like the outer layer is actually peeling off, that is a defect.
 
I just clicked on this thread thinking it was about the holes/strap becoming loose.:eek:

So the strap is losing color because the layers are loose?:confused:
 
Same issue here with owning it for less than 3 weeks. Contacted Apple waiting for an advisor to get back to me later today.

I ended up getting mine replaced, I have to send my old bands back to Apple Engineering though. They are just sending me a whole new band, hopefully it arrives this week, it says preparing for shipping already.
 
There are two issues with the black bands, as you'll see if you read back in the forum a bit. It gets shiny in places where it rubs up against itself. This happens with all the sport bands, but for whatever reason is MUCH more obvious on the black color. However, I'm inclined to say this is normal wear and tear.

The second issue is that the band literally starts to peel away. This is not normal. It's difficult to tell which issue the OP is suffering from, just from the pictures, but if it's the peeling then it will get progressively worse and should be replaced by Apple.

This is exactly the case. Some people get those two things confused.
 
Apple needs to stop using coatings on otherwise quality materials. That's obviously a coating wearing off. All they had to do was use the same material used for iPad Smart Covers and this problem wouldn't exist. People are having issues with the anti-reflective coating wearing off hideously from retina MacBook Pros, scratches and wearing of the coating on the sapphire displays of Apple Watch, and I've had faint scratches in the coating on iOS devices. Wish they would forget the coatings, especially the oleophobic coatings which do practically nothing anyway. It defeats the purpose of using the quality materials underneath.
 
I ended up getting mine replaced, I have to send my old bands back to Apple Engineering though. They are just sending me a whole new band, hopefully it arrives this week, it says preparing for shipping already.

They are sending me a new band. The email says I do not have to return mine.

Do you have AC+ by chance. My status is pending shipment and it says AC+ Service DIY Fee : $0
 
Apple Watch Sport band is loosing a layer??

You guys are ridiculous! You're asking for new bands when the new band you receive will do the same thing in a week!!
 
You guys are ridiculous! You're asking for new bands when the new band you receive will do the same thing in a week!!

My girlfriend's 38mm is 2 weeks old, my 42mm is 3 weeks old. After about the first week I had the "peeling", she has yet to have any "peeling" or discoloration. Her watch build week is 2 weeks later than mine. I believe I got a defective band.
 
My girlfriend's 38mm is 2 weeks old, my 42mm is 3 weeks old. After about the first week I had the "peeling", she has yet to have any "peeling" or discoloration. Her watch build week is 2 weeks later than mine. I believe I got a defective band.


What color is her band? The wear and tear is harder to see on the lighter colors. I have black and white, they both have the "peeling" in the areas where the bands rub together.
 
What color is her band? The wear and tear is harder to see on the lighter colors. I have black and white, they both have the "peeling" in the areas where the bands rub together.

Black, same as mine, just built 2 weeks later.

There was a 'rumor' early black sport bands had a manufacturing problem. Some could have slipped through.

I thoroughly inspected her band because I didn't want to have to contact Apple a second time about the same issue.
 
My black sport band is experiencing the same exact issue. I called Apple Care and they offered to send me a new Sport band free of charge. The representative even let me choose a different color (I chose white this time around). And I don't have to send the worn out band back at all. Talk about excellent customer service!
 
Well at least i know now how to get some extra band colors for free.

I did have to send the AppleCare rep a picture of my band to show the wear. I don't think they would have just done it without seeing it.

The Apple Store near me wanted me to send my entire watch in otherwise (that would have been a 3-5 day it around, and I didn't want to not have a watch for that time frame).
 
I don't think it's anything to worry about. It's just rubber. And you can always use it for activities. Get a Milanese or leather loop for normal wear
 
I did have to send the AppleCare rep a picture of my band to show the wear. I don't think they would have just done it without seeing it.

Yeah, but what's to stop someone from just taking one of the pics of damaged bands from here or google and just showing them that to get a free band? Apple needs to require users to send back the damaged band. That's the only way to avoid fraudulent claims.

Even then, I wouldn't be surprised if people buy cheap well-made knockoffs and swap those for authentic Apple bands (if the Apple bands don't have serial numbers that is). That could cause a real problem for the more expensive bands.

I was at Target about a month ago and on the rack next to new and unopened iPad mini Smart Covers was a counterfeit smart cover (I could tell because authentic mini smart covers do not have a metal hinge). Someone must have bought one and returned a fake in the original packaging. People do all kinds of things - scammers are crafty.
 
saw one of the display units at the Apple Store in Chicago on Michigan Ave that the top layer was peeling off
 
You guys are ridiculous! You're asking for new bands when the new band you receive will do the same thing in a week!!

Actually I am curious to find out how the replacement bands work out for those experiencing problems. This could be normal wear, but I doubt it. Peeling seems like a defect in the coating. If replacement bands fare much better for you guys, that would be telling.
 
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