Does the Apple Bumper scratch iPhone 4?

[Mikey B]

Wow, that's strange. I have never owned a case that scratched my iphone. Had the bumper on for over a month and not one single scratch. Had a cheap Kroo case on my 3GS and not one single scratch when I went to sell it. I think it just depends on the owner and how they treat their phones.

I don't think it depends on the owner and how they treat their phone. I've seen cases, particularly Incase slider-style ones, to do some pretty serious damage to iPhones. And this is to folks who take meticulous care of their phone, myself being one of them. It is most often caused by small pieces of debris that find there way under the case.

You can be as OCD as they come and not prevent that damage from occurring. And sometimes it's the design of the case itself. As cool as the Power Support Air Jacket was for the 3G/3GS, it was murder on the bezel when you would take it on or off. Personally, I think that is the biggest culprit- removing and putting the case back on. And that can be pretty hard to avoid if you want to use a dock or an older iPhone cable and most 3rd party cables/car chargers when you have an Apple Bumper.

I have a bumper on my 4, and it's definitely facilitated damage being to the steel; on the power button there is what looks like a little chip and to the left of the headphone jack there's scuff marks.

All cases have the potential to facilitate damage. I'm definitely disappointed to see it, but not surprised.

 

[Grayburn]

No scratches on mine...so far, had the bumper on for probably a month now.

 

[PaulieORF]

I've had a bumper on my iPhone pretty much since launch. Just removed it to clean any lint that might be underneath the other day and found 4 pretty decent sized scratches in the metal at the top.

 

[Macbie]

Since we are talking about OCD here, let's talk about how when plug the phone to the charger that the bottom will get scratched up because its steel.

 

[aggie03]

The bumper does rub and damage the steel band! It has a polishing effect!

You are spot on. It isn't scratches we are seeing, it is the removal of the "brushing" that was done to the steel band. The same thing has happened with my wedding band. It doesn't take a lot of effort to "rub" the brussed finish off.

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

I only got them at the corners of the band it docent look nice but it's covered by the bummper

 

[marksman]

I find the more loose diamonds someone carries around in their pockets, the more likely they are to find scratches on their iPhones.

 

[iphone1105]

I find the more loose diamonds someone carries around in their pockets, the more likely they are to find scratches on their iPhones.

HAHAHA, I know. You read some of these posts? people here must never wash their pants or clean them if they have all this crap in their pockets scratching things....wtf people? you have that much dirt and crap on you that it scratches your stuff???? I am out of the house 6am everyday, home by 7pm, work inside, outside, everywhere, never dirt in my pockets, how you people get dirt in your pockets is beyond me!

 

[PhaserFuzz]

Well I went to Best Buy and got the Invisible Shield 4Fix installed on the sides for free. I recommend everyone do this that is using the Bumper. Hopefully this prevents any scratching or rubbing on the sides.

 

[alekparker]

Cases do NOT scratch the phone. Plastic and Rubber are not > Glass and Steel.

What scratches the phone is getting junk in between the case and the phone. Things like sand are extremely abrasive and can scratch the phone.

Keep your phone in a clean environment, remove and clean the case regularly and you shouldn't have a problem.

incorrect.

I had the bumper on my phone for 1 week. I removed the bumper and noticed a small ding in the metal band of the iPhone. I examined the inside of the bumper only to notice that the hard plastic part of the bumper had a little piece jotting out right where the ding on the iPhone4 was.

So it over time any small pieces of the plastic on the bumper can cause scratches and dings on the iPhone 4.

 

[richard371]

Simple fix!

1. line the metal band with scotch tape. Don't bridge the left corner as the adhesive in the tape may have some conductivity
2. Boil the bumper like suggested in other threads so it doesn't move on the iphone and fits tight.
3. Remove and clean once a week or so.

The problem is dirt and stuff can get in when the bumper is loose and the movement of the bumper can cause the dirt to scrape against the band

 

[iammike1]

incorrect.

I had the bumper on my phone for 1 week. I removed the bumper and noticed a small ding in the metal band of the iPhone. I examined the inside of the bumper only to notice that the hard plastic part of the bumper had a little piece jotting out right where the ding on the iPhone4 was.

So it over time any small pieces of the plastic on the bumper can cause scratches and dings on the iPhone 4.

Plastic does not "scratch" or "ding" steel or glass. If, perhaps, it is not a "scratch" or "ding" then you need to be more specific.

My god people, the plastic in the Apple Bumper isn't even a very hard plastic and you really think that the bumper itself is scratching your phone? Polishing is one thing...scratching and dinging is a whole different thing.

 

[TheRoyalPython]

first post, first solution (i hope i can spell)

woooo, first post. Well anyway, ive only ever had the iphone 3g and still have it (got my 4 on order, should be coming from o2 within the next few days) but i found that with the 3g having cheap plastic chrome for its band it was easy for any case, even with meticulous amounts of cleaning care, to trap dirt (especialy from jeans pockets) and rub the finish causing scratches galore!

My solution was to buy a screen protector and a simple elastic, soft phone sock that completely covered the phone from top to bottom (even had just the right amount of excess to cover the top of the phone unlike allot of pouches). I find this to provide great drop protection (for the average day to day user, dont know about people who work on building sites ect)and crucially, it just DOESNT trap dirt inside the sock or have the substance to be able to rub the phone if the dirt got in there.

It may not be the most elegant solution, BUT, i think on the new phone the front and back power support static cling screen protectors + a soft, tight and all fitting sock will allow you to keep your phone in the most pristine condition you can.

I hope this helps people looking to keep there phone looking as new until the new iphone comes out

 

[TheRoyalPython]

btw

BTW, plastic DOES have the ability to scratch metal (believe it or not). I went to this post initialy as my friend has been complaining over the issue (his ip4 had it on for a day and got scratched, trust me, i looked and there was NO dirt or dust to speak of.)

The problem we found is that in areas were the bumper is sealed together through heat treatment in production, the plastic is hardened, and due to the enclosed (and somewhat rushed process due to demand) nature of the areas, buffing had not smoothed off these harder, somewhat sharp areas.

Now i STILL know that its STILL plastic but hear me out. Stainless steel is only stainless due to the fact it has an un-reactive oxide (sacrificial) layer on its surface. This layer is thin, and slightly softer than the metal beneath. It is POSSIBLE that the harder area of the bumper, coupled with the slightest drop, or even putting it in a tight pocket (or something equally trivial in its apparent ability to scratch the phone) COULD and i think in some cases HAS scratched the oxide layer from the band.

The reason these rubs or scratches appear a duller, darker colour is due to the fact that to create the oxide layer it requires (im pretty sure it does anyway) HEAT and finaly BUFFING to get the desired tone/colour. Id imagine that a little polishing would fix the problem by blending the rubbed area in with the unaffected area but to re-create the exact colour it would require the treatment undergone in the factory.

Im just saying what i THINK is the cause of the problem and how it has happened. It makes SOME sense for it to be able to happen. It doesnt take allot of pressure concentrated on one, tiny area (coupled with minute amounts of dirt/dust) to scratch the softer oxide layer of the steal producing these dull, darker areas.

Thanks for reading people (i love smileys)

 

[tekunoloji]

Photo proof of bumper scratching iPhone 4 steel band

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed this.

I wrote a small article documenting the scratches that appeared after I put on the iPhone 4 bumper:

http://www.tekunoloji.com/apple-bumper-scratches-the-iphone-4s-steel-band

Here are some of the photos:

More in the link. Is this covered by Apple? I'm quite upset...

 

[Trat]

Jeez, I'm glad I'm normal and can make a rational calculation about being OCD. A totally new looking iPhone 4 well get you maybe 400 bucks in a year when you resell it, that's because it's used: people don't pay more for it. If it has some scratches it will get you 20 bucks less, cause most people don't care. If you find someone who does care, sell it to somebody else. Are you telling me you'll let your live be run for a year because of 20 bucks? My god, you guys are so cheap.

In my experience, reselling a product that is 100% functional but has a few scratches (the ones in the photo's are pathetically small: couldn't lose a second sleep about those), really only matters max 10% on the resell price. You spend a **** pile on cases, covers and screen protectors (even covers for the dock connectors... pathetic and don't get me started about those ugly POS Uttercrap Defender things. Yikes...). And in the end, it only gives you a anal OCD stamp from your surrounding. You really think someone buying your one-year iPhone 4 is gonna look for these tiny scratches? Such a seller would be even more pathetic that you guys.

If you guys are so OCD about this, maybe a iPhone is a little to expensive for you guys cause I could care less how my phone looks like in a year or so, or for how much I can resell it. But continue to post whine topics offering photographical evidence (that prove nothing): they are a great read for a sane person like me!

 

[Trat]

Is this covered by Apple? I'm quite upset...

Maybe if you start crying and pissing your pants in the store, they will exchange it for you...

 

[FieldingMellish]

My band had a tiny dark imperfection from the Bumper, but the Bumper prevented the band from getting bent on several occasions. I’ll take the tiny imperfection.

The OCD mentioned above does result in spending a lot more than you get back in selling a used iPhone with no scratches. Multiple skin brand attempts, multiple cases; time spent reviewing and fretting over the decision; it becomes an obsession.

I have the bumper and some skins for my own pleasure of not seeing a gouged screen for the rest of my time period of ownership. I did buy the Uttercrap defender for $20.00 when that sale occurred, for the rough environments I periodically enter into. And that's that. Otherwise, the world of phone cases will take over your life.

 

[Trat]

Sure I have a case too, but that's just because I like the feel of it and sure I don't want to break the glass of my phone when it drops (which is plausible). That's what a case is for: to protect it from breaking when you drop it or your kid swipes it from the table, or isn't it?
But scratches on your metal band, scratches on the back and front, dust in the connector port, they all really don't matter that much when reselling. Hell, I sold my 3G with a crack in it's case and dust under the display for only 15-20% less then what a mint one sold for and it was two years old. That's a loss of almost nothing. It really isn't worth all the hassle and I rather spend my time and money on things to enjoy. I'm pretty sure all the money you spend on your OCD > the loss of resell value if you didn't buy all that crap or clean your phone every 5 minutes like it's some sort of alien trophy...

Now, you might say that all this exercising you do when hunting for better cases and crying on fora like these about trivial scratches, is fun to you. Remember that a gambling addict would say the same, yet he too is very irrational about his disordered state...

Edit: Still, I think if people are this anal about resell value, a iPhone is above their budget... You shouldn't care about a phone and it's resell value: you use it now, who cares about who you sell it to and for how much...