correlation between manufacturing date and defects and/or scuffing?

[chraos]

Apologies if this has been addressed before but I wondering if all the factory defects being reported with the iPhone 5 relate in anyway to their manufacturing date. Someone had posted a thread a week ago with a link that decodes your device serial number, can't remember who the original poster but they deserve the credit for this one, i will try to find that thread and edit this post.

Here is the Serial Number Decoder Site:

http://www.chipmunk.nl/cgi-fast/applemodel.cgi

(hopefully you know how to find your device's serial number, hint: settings>about)

My Results:
Serial number: ***********
Name: iPhone 5 (GSM model: AT&T and Canada)
ModelCode: iphone_5
Model Number: MD634
Group1: iPhone
Group2:
Generation: 7
Model introduced: 2012
Production year: 2012
Production week: 36 (September)
Family name: Become a pro user to see this information. (sorry)
Screen size: 4 inch
Screen resolution: 1136x640 pixels
Colour: Black
Capacity: 16GB
Factory: F1 (China, Zhengzhou - Foxconn)

from my meticulous initial inspection and 7 hours of fairly heavy usage, phone has no serious cosmetic flaws nor hardware related defects. the only negative thing I have noticed is that the slider toggles in all the settings menus only respond to a direct tap, while the typical "sliding" motion does not seem to register touch input...but I have read others complain about this it could possibly be an issue related with iOS itself.

Would be nice to see other peoples results based on manufacture date. I am wondering if there was a certain foxconn crew responsible but I honestly do not know the logistics of large scale tech product manufacturing so perhaps im completely overreaching. Nevertheless, still think it would be cool see how this pans out. /rambling

 

[JoshObra]

Week 36 here too, scuffed.

I guess being the first ones to preorder is probably not the best time, now I know I'll wait like an hour (or thirty minutes) next time.

 

[physicsguy13]

Mine is also week 36 and it has no issues that I could see.

 

[johnparjr]

Im week 37 and ordered at midnight from Verizon and my phone is perfect

 

[leoneedees]

Week 34 here with no issues yet. Factory: C3-China (32gb White)

 

[Built]

Week 36...no issues...

 

[madmonkeys]

Week 37 white no issues
DN (China, Chengdu - Foxconn)

 

[7even]

Week 37, white, 32GB from Verizon, factory - F2. Some scratches on the aluminum.

 

[RxMac]

Possibly factory related too....

Week 35
DN-China, Chengdu, Foxconn

No problems too speak of pristine.

 

[mr.thing]

Production week: 37 (September)
Factory: C3 (China)

Black. After 1 day found some scuffs on the bottom. They are minor.

 

[crushedcore]

Name: iPhone 5 (GSM model: AT&T and Canada)
ModelCode: iphone_5
Model Number: MD644
Group1: iPhone
Group2:
Generation: 7
Model introduced: 2012
Production year: 2012
Production week: 37 (September)
Family name: Become a pro user to see this information. (sorry)
Screen size: 4 inch
Screen resolution: 1136x640 pixels
Colour: Black
Capacity: 64GB
Factory: DN (China, Chengdu - Foxconn)

3 sides of phone has at least 1 nick/chip out of the box

 

[kanshu]

Mine is flawless

Serial number:
Name: iPhone 5 (GSM model: AT&T and Canada)
ModelCode: iphone_5
Model Number: MD636
Group1: iPhone
Group2:
Generation: 7
Model introduced: 2012
Production year: 2012
Production week: 37 (September)
Family name: Become a pro user to see this information. (sorry)
Screen size: 4 inch
Screen resolution: 1136x640 pixels
Colour: Black
Capacity: 32GB
Factory: DN (China, Chengdu - Foxconn)

 

[Burgess07]

Week 32: no problems yet

 

[darkwolf2]

Week 36, factory F2, dark colored "dust" under the glass. I'll be getting it swapped out sometime this weekend.

 

[iPhoneONLY]

Week 36, factory F2, dark colored "dust" under the glass. I'll be getting it swapped out sometime this weekend.

Yikes! That doesn't sound good.

I have an F2 week 38 arriving later this week. Hopefully they ran out of dust after week 36 or 37.

 

[meotai]

Flawless.

Name: iPhone 5
ModelCode: iphone_5
Model Number: MD655
Group1: iPhone
Group2:
Generation: 7
Model introduced: 2012
Production year: 2012
Production week: 35 (September)
Screen size: 4 inch
Screen resolution: 1136x640 pixels
Colour: White
Capacity: 16GB

 

[thaghost]

Week 35, small scuff top left corner of bezel. Gonna attempt to call apple tomorrow.

 

[ThePreditor]

Stop it!

 

[theanimaster]

OK, so my sister-in-law just got a replacement after her initial 16GB White iPhone 5 had this pretty deep inside-cut in the band. Before we cut open the brown box I was thinking of getting the unboxing on video but I thought "How RIDICULOUS would it be if the replacement had the same defect? RIGHT???"

So I put my camera away.

You would NOT believe this -- the replacement was IN WORSE CONDITION!!!

Her serial number also almost matches the original except for three digits in one segment of the serial number. I would guess this is an indication that the replacement was from the same batch as the original!!!

Foxconn (F1) plant in *wait for it* ZENGZHOU. Week 46 (November) 2012.

So, THANK YOU APPLE for replacing a bad phone from a bad batch with a bad phone from THE SAME BATCH. Maybe it's time that batch was actually CHECKED??

Here are the pics. Wish I had gotten better pics of the first one to compare:

These first three pics show the worse part: yet ANOTHER dented band (dented from the inside):

The next four -- it isn't very clear in these pics, but the white plastic holding the glass screen in place is dented in near the corner and marred as well. The marred area looks like just another shadow. It ain't. Tsk tsk. Filthy...

The last two indicate the not-so-pristine working conditions in the Foxconn Zangzhou factory. The workers there must be a VERY unhappy lot (evidenced by the strike they had) as they must like to throw around things. My own black iPhone suffers from scuffs near the plastic dividers in the band. Here in these two pics there is some orange stuff splattered and smeared on the sides (it was smeared and splattered near the plastic bands). Whatever is happening here would explain why a LOT of black iPhone 5's coming from this factory have the same scuffs near the plastic part of the band.

Not impressed Apple. NOT impressed.