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Tom8

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 28, 2010
848
71
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Had my iPhone 4 for about 3 months now and today I noticed a thin crack, about 1.5/2cm long in my rear glass panel. I'm just curious as to other peoples experiences, how long do you think it will be until I need to replace the glass panel?
The crack is currently invisible unless under direct light at certain angles. I'm prettyy surprised there's s crack as I've taken a lot care with my phone, looks like the beautiful design is more style than substance.

Still no complaints about the phone itself
 
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The whole point of my question was that because the crack is so fine that it's almost invisible how long until it propagates and ruins the glass.
The cracks that thin you can't really see it on a photo
 
Pics or it didn't happen

Really? the OP is not bashing the phone, why be difficult about it? I am worried about this too, so my speck candy shell is never coming off. Hopefully the scratch doesn't get worse. Good luck OP.
 
Any pressure you make to it has a chance of making the crack bigger. Same goes with sudden temperature changes (going outside on a snowy winter day?) and obviously dropping it.

What I'd do at this point is buy a thin case, put it on, and forget the crack ever existed.
 
well if the crack gets too bad then you can go to apple and have the back replaced for a new one for $29 as I understand...
 
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Thanks for your answers

I'm aware of glass's low ductility so when a crack forms the stress isn't eased like in metals, so it's just a ticking timebomb really. I'm pretty disappointed in the glass, i've seen a lot of reports about it being damages, even though in the design video they said it was something like '30 times tougher than plastic & comparable in strength to sapphire crystal'
I'd have preferred them to make it less brittle.

As long as it stays relatively aesthetic damage I'll be fine. I really love the phone so it sort of got me a bit down knowing i'd damaged it.
Oh well, 7 months and I'll have a shiney new iPhone 5, hopefully with a LiquidMetal rear plate.

Thank you all for the advice.
 
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Thanks for your answers

I'm aware of glass's low ductility so when a crack forms the stress isn't eased like in metals, so it's just a ticking timebomb really. I'm pretty disappointed in the glass, i've seen a lot of reports about it being damages, even though in the design video they said it was something like '30 times tougher than plastic & comparable in strength to sapphire crystal'
I'd have preferred them to make it less brittle.

As long as it stays relatively aesthetic damage I'll be fine. I really love the phone so it sort of got me a bit down knowing i'd damaged it.
Oh well, 7 months and I'll have a shiney new iPhone 5, hopefully with a LiquidMetal rear plate.

Thank you all for the advice.

except that the rear panel is using regular tempered glass. you know the ones they use in car windows ? cracks and gets spider webs, but doesn't shatter.
 
Just take it to the Apple store. They will replace it for $29. And it won't void the warranty like it would if you mess with it yourself. :)
 
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