Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over iPhone 4 Glass Breakage

[Surely]

Throw out everything that's been said. It's crap.

This is the deal.

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT APPLE SAYS. Don't drop your phone, and there won't be a problem.

I've owned every iPhone generation, and I've NEVER DROPPED MINE EVEN ONCE.

I immediately expect everyone else to treat the phone the same way. If they don't, then they pay for that.

Next thread.

It's not like people choose to drop their iPhone.

"Hmmm, I think I'll drop my iPhone today."

 

[ormed14]

lol

Lol @ plaintiff.
Sounds like a smart guy, handing his child the iPhone in the first place. I take care of my things and the iPhone is not the most durable star in the universe. Apple was thinking aesthetics on that design, not "drop-ability" (which is good and bad in my opinion). Sounds like another scalding coffee lawsuit to me....

 

[greenmeanie]

People know they are glass.
If you don't want to take the risk don't buy it.

 

[plokoonpma]

That dude skipped school?
glass, tempered glass brake, shatter. Its glass after all.... like he never dropped a dish or something and broke it. His daughter dropped it, landed an angle that prompted the glass to shatter.
If you look at Apple store, AT&T or any other carrier the iPhone has never been advertised as a rugged product that is supposed to survive abuse.

Really, law suits in USA are becoming really childish these days.

 

[raymondthimmes]

the iphone 4 will go down in history as one of the most controversial devices...

First, no signal... free bumpers...
next, verizon
next, all the glass on EVERY SINGLE MODEL will spontaniously shatter because of a signal sent from Steve Jobs' ipad.

next... the obelisk will suck us into an infinity continuim where we will endlessly repeat conception, development, birth, life and death....

what is the obelisk? ipad 2.

 

[nathanw]

There are people out there that sell insurance for accidental screen breakage. Buy that! Or just buy a case that'll protect the screen.
Or even better, don't drop your phone! Protect your investment. It's not apple's fault that you're careless.
This is ridiculous and a waste of time/money.

 

[nagromme]

Stiffness and hardness are great, and are one kind of durability. Softness and flexibility are another kind. Apple doesn’t imply that plastic has NO advantages, nor that iPhones are magically impervious to physics. Each material has some advantages, and I for one am very happy with the Gorilla Glass! I whipped my caseless iPhone 4 really hard onto metal floor (more than gravity: it was flung out of a chest pocket with force as I took off my sweatshirt); it bounced, landed again on hard tile, and skidded several feet on its face through sand and grit (near an entrance from outside). No breakages or failures of any kind. Not a single scratch.

There’s a lot of luck involved in ANY drop. Something fragile might survive. Something durable might unexpectedly break.

And if you’re really lucky, a lawyer will arrive to scam some money with you 🙂

 

[TigerWoodsIV]

no, but maybe he thinks apple shouldnt make an iphone whose front and back are made of glass? which makes total sense.

While this makes sense if you plan on dropping the phone, it doesn't if you don't. I love how it looks and love that it's not plastic. I've had it since launch day and have yet to drop it once. I'm not perfect, but I'm careful with something that costs a small fortune if unsubsidized.

 

[allpar]

The angle it hits is very important.

Many years ago, Royal Typewriter, before being purchased by Litton, used to throw their typewriters out of a plane, as a publicity stunt; a company man would then open up a few of the typewriters and use them. They quickly discovered they needed to avoid those which landed on the corner.

In my old office we had numerous laptops fall. I found that Sony Vaios would land safely most of the time - but not if they landed on the hinge corners. Then they were goners pretty much regardless of height.

I hate to say it but I've had my share of drops -- my phone's dropped and skidded a few times but I use a cheap Motorola flip-phone ($30 unsubsidized) and it's never broken... maybe four or five years now? Dropped an iBook, Powerbook Duo, 1955 Royal typewriter, and Heaven knows what else without damage. (My typewriter went over twice before, the third time, one of the back support arms broke off. Oops. Dorm desks weren't designed to have typewriters, especially business-sized manuals.) But I am extra double careful with my iPod...

 

[SkippyThorson]

You know, I've always said to my family and friends (and probably even here more than once) that Apple is the only company that could ever get away with making a cell phone out of glass. 😛

 

[Surely]

If someone sees this as a problem they shouldn't buy a phone with fronts and backs made of glass. People are all too willing to blame their problems and choices on other people, but nobody wants to accept accountability themselves.

They shouldn't market it this way. It causes people to believe that the glass is special and won't break.

From the iPhone 4 page on Apple's website:


Perhaps Apple should be held accountable for that type of marketing?

All I know is that if I were to drop a 3GS and an iPhone 4 from the same height, there is no chance that the back of the 3GS will crack. There is a good chance that the back of the iPhone 4 will crack. How does that make the glass 20x stiffer and 30x harder than plastic?

 

[coyote]

no, but maybe he thinks apple shouldn't make an iPhone whose front and back are made of glass? Which makes total sense.

Maybe he thinks that he should have had the sense to not buy one? But rather than taking personal responsibility, it's much easier and more fun to sue!

 

[Heb1228]

The article states:

claiming the company knows about the design flaw and refuses to warn consumers that "normal" use leads essentially to a broken phone.

Since when did dropping a piece of electronics on hard ground qualify as "normal use"? If it broke when she was using pinch to zoom, then sure—that's normal use.

 

[coyote]

They shouldn't market it this way. It causes people to believe that the glass is special and won't break.
View attachment 269165

Perhaps Apple should be held accountable for that type of marketing?

What, saying that the glass is strong and durable? That's true.

 

[aperry]

I agree with him. The marketing is grossly misleading. The iPhone 4 is far more fragile than previous iPhones though it's advertized as being significantly less fragile.

He seeks to have everyone who had to pay apple $200 to get the glass replaced, reimbursed. I think that's a great goal.

I also think this suit if it succeeds would greatly increase the chance that the next iPhone will use actual Gorilla Glass so that it remains damn near indestructable. At the very least, they should stop marketing it as being so damn unbreakable.

I wouldn't advocate for a lawsuit like this, but I can understand this guy's point. The advertising points to the glass being ultradurable and likens it to the glass used in the windshields of high speed trains and helicopters.

When I read "glass used in the windshield of a high speed train", my first thought is "wow, that must be tough and resistant to impact". At least I'd expect it to survive a 5 foot fall. However I'm pretty sure it's been demonstrated that the iPhone 4's front glass is failing at a higher rate compared to the 3GS.

It does seem like deliberately misleading advertising to me. Is it illegal? I have no idea, probably not. Just a little unethical IMO.

 

[147798]

This is one of the few legit cases for class action lawsuits. If they really made claims (and they did) and IF (a to be determined IF) they are more prone to breakage, then they should be penalized.

Apple doesn't personally care about any of us. They care perhaps about making great products, and they care about making money. That's about it. Don't let them off the hook so easily, just because they make great products.

As opposed to, say, this little bit: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/28/finland_iphone/ which, by the way, is taking place in Finland. So while the US may have ridiculous lawsuits, Europe has ridiculous agencies. Pick your poison. (this last comment in response to an "only in America could this happen" comment further up)

 

[wolfenkraft]

I'm just going to say this. I've never broken a phone until the iphone 4. I've had several phones, including every iphone generation. My iphone 4 dropped 1 foot on to carpet on its back while in a bumper case, there was no damage to anything, except for a 2.5" spider web from one of the corners on the front of the case. I take excellent care of my phones, my 3gs was in a durable case from day 1 and was dropped at most 5 times ever, my 3g had 0 scratches on it and my original had scratches only from the dust getting into my original stretch case.

The iphone 4 does have a defect in the glass process. The glass is so hard it doesn't yield at all. Just like the difference in aluminum and plastic. Plastic will bend/warp a little when aluminum will crack in half. The energy transferred from a 1 foot drop onto carpet shattered the front of my phone's screen. That's unreasonable.

 

[aperry]

The article states:

Since when did dropping a piece of electronics on hard ground qualify as "normal use"? If it broke when she was using pinch to zoom, then sure—that's normal use.

I don't know. I guess if that's not expected use then why is Apple going out of its way to advertise that it's the same glass used in high speed trains and helicopters?

 

[Surely]

What, saying that the glass is strong and durable? That's true.

Is it?

Have you seen how scratched up the back of an iPhone 4 can get? Have you taken a close look at the floor models at an Apple Store?

 

[HitchHykr]

no, but maybe he thinks apple shouldnt make an iphone whose front and back are made of glass? which makes total sense.

Maybe he should sue the person that held a gun to his head and forced him to buy the iPhone 4? Apple didn't force him to buy it, it was his choice to buy this product as it was designed.

 

[mondesi43]

...I would definitely support this lawsuit. I also dropped mine about 3 ft off the ground as well.. completely shattered the front glass after owning it for 2 months. (Apple gave me a 20% discount on the replacement, but it still cost me $172 to replace) I had an 1st gen iPhone that lasted me more than 2 years without problems. I love the aesthetics of the iPhone 4, but the glass almost always takes the impact no matter how its dropped.. looks good, but bad idea.

So would you support a lawsuit where he gave the keys to his Ford F350 (strong vehicle right?) to his daughter and she ran into a cement barrier at 15 MPH.....then he decided to sue Ford because the advertising claimed it was heavy duty and should be implied that the truck should withstand a slow impact with no damage?

THE PHONE IS MADE OF GLASS....TAKE CARE OF IT! Sue happy flippin idiots can't take responsibility for common sense.

 

[ehoui]

This makes me feel a little better about this.

 

[coyote]

On the one hand, if the guy was simply suing because his phone broke after he dropped it, it would be ridiculous. On the other, you do have to admit how the claims of "30x harder and 20x stiffer than plastic" could easily be interpreted to mean that the glass is 20x or 30x less prone to cracking than plastic when dropped, and if you had an all-plastic phone it probably wouldn't break with a 3-foot drop.

Not if you actually understand what 'stiff' and 'hard' mean. ('Stiff' is resistance to flex, and 'hard' is resistance to scratching.)

 

[topomango]

actually

my phone fell down from 2 feet and the glass broke in a 1K pieces. I went to the Apple $tore and I had to pay $200 for a replacement phone. it sucks. Still I do not get why I have to return my broken phone and pay $200 on top, I think this is a scam, since that they make twice the money, replacing the screen and resell it.
btw, at the store there were tons of people with the same problem, we all had to pay, they do not give a .... the official scuse that they repeat as a mantra is : it is glass, it breaks easy. My iphone was inside an official sleeve when it fell. If it is so delicate, it is scary, putting a piece of so fragile glass so close to your intimate parts in the front pocket of my jeans. If the jeans are too thigh it may break and cause you serious damage, think about it for a second, you apple fanboy... would you put a champagne glass in your front pocket of your pans?

 

[Jimmy James]

I wonder if he's only looking to recover his $252, plus costs?