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Growing Number of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Devices Affected by Insidious 'Touch Disease'
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And while your "pointing" out that 6s and 6s+ aren't affected AFTER you posted the story - while your at it "point out" that the 6 and 6+ sold nearly a QUARTER BILLION UNITS.
Seriously - let's make this into a huge issue versus units sold. Geez. Since this is trying to be journalism - wheres the research on comparable products made in those volumes by competitors? Oops! Gee. Why are many of these stories pure hit pieces only how Apple fails at building merely 200 million perfect operating units.. And while your at it how bout figuring what the INDUSTRY failure rate sits at in terms of smartphones. Good luck finding that data!
Tired of the sky is falling in on Apple bs. You try building, shipping, selling, servicing, and offering tech support to 225 million units of ANYTHING and not expect average rate of failures.
SO WHAT! Where's the perspective people???
That wasn't the implication. The implication was that if the device stops working properly after two years, why golly gee, you might just be _forced_ to buy a new iPhone. New iPhone = profit.
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Uhh, when does Apple _ever_ acknowledge a problem if they don't have some sort of fix, or at least work-around, to propose?
Mine has had touch issues since new. Often manifests that the swipe gesture when trying to answer a call doesn't't work. I have to cycle the power to get it to recognize touch.. Apple replaced it once, and the new one starting having the same issue before long. Just got used to it, but they never acknowledged an actual problem for some reason.
I'm having the same problem on a 6+ pre-ordered when it was first available. Because of Bendghazi, I was fastidious about pulling it out of my pocket before I sat. Naturally, though, there were times I forgot and now I find myself in a more unfortunate position than those who manhandled theirs--out of warranty with a intermittently usable and "unrepairable" phone. It's no coincidence that the news reports are surfacing now given that replacements are being denied at an accelerated pace as original warranties expire, customers grumble, and AppleCare customers with soon-to-expire coverage worry about the future operability of their iPhone. My advice to them? Bend it like Beckham.
Ive had Apple Replace two of them for me - the first one that I purchased after 11 monthsand then the 2nd two months after it was replaced, the third one I have so far has been good.
As the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus approach their second birthday, a growing number of users are suffering from what appears to be a latent manufacturing issue that presents as a gray flickering bar at the top of the screen and a display that's unresponsive or less responsive to touch.
In a new blog post and video, repair site iFixit says a number of third-party repair outlets have seen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models affected by the bug, which appears to be very common. STS Telecom owner Jason Villmer says he sees faulty iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models multiple times a week, while another repair tech in Louisiana sees up to 100 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices that don't respond well to touch.
iFixit is calling the problem "Touch Disease," and says Apple appears to be aware of the issue based on dozens of complaints on Apple's support forum, but isn't "doing anything about it." Multiple people who brought their iPhones to Apple Stores were told that Apple doesn't recognize it as an issue and nothing could be done as their iPhones were out of warranty.
Putting pressure on the display of an affected iPhone or twisting the device appears to reverse the issue for a short period, but the gray bar returns and touch functionality grows worse and worse until the touchscreen stops functioning entirely.
Replacing the display doesn't work as the problem is said to be caused by the touchscreen controller chips soldered to the logic board of the phone, and it's possible the damage is caused by the same structural design flaw that caused the major "Bendgate" controversy.According to iFixit, the only way to fix the problem is to replace the iPhone, replace the logic board, or replace the Touch ICs on the logic board, something Apple's in-house repair staff is not able to do. iFixit recommends users who are experiencing early symptoms of Touch Disease -- an intermittently non-functional touch screen or hints of a gray bar -- get their iPhones replaced outright if they're still under warranty.
For those without a warranty, iFixit suggests taking an affected iPhone 6 or 6 Plus to an electronics repair shop able to replace the chips. Apple doesn't approve of third-party repairs, but it may be the only solution until the problem is officially acknowledged by the company.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are not affected by the same issue as Apple strengthened the body and changed the position of the Touch IC chips in those devices.
Article Link: Growing Number of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Devices Affected by Insidious 'Touch Disease'
Yeah, "Touch Disease" just affected my phone Saturday. I was texting, suddenly the top went grey and then the phone became non-responsive. I went nuts, like WTF!!!! So I went to Apple and they said it was because the phone was slightly bent, which it wasn't. It will cost $320 to replace. 
I wrote Time Cook a letter.
I wrote Time Cook a letter.
Interesting but not surprising as there is a finite number of use cases that any mfg can test for, MTBF being the most obvious. In the end, this is what warranties are for, and, on occasion, repair extension programs. If it's truly as legitimate and widespread an issue as the YouTube video suggests, Apple would have (or will) offer a repair extension, and in doing so provide refunds any repairs/replacements done through Apple-certified repair centers involving this specific issue. At-best, I think it's dubious to speculate much beyond that.
As a purely unscientific, possibly specious anecdote: My wife has had the very same iPhone 6+ since launch. It's been dropped a few times (no dents or cracks), and it's had no issues (knock on wood--I'd hear about it, no doubt). The only issue I've seen or read about with regard to the 6/6+ is the iSight camera which has a 3yr repair extension on it; she's had no issues with the camera, so it's more an "if" than "when" scenario of getting it replaced.
Meanwhile, I'm still rockin' my 5S with no issues, it was replaced once about two years ago for issues with the SIM card. No issues since.
As a purely unscientific, possibly specious anecdote: My wife has had the very same iPhone 6+ since launch. It's been dropped a few times (no dents or cracks), and it's had no issues (knock on wood--I'd hear about it, no doubt). The only issue I've seen or read about with regard to the 6/6+ is the iSight camera which has a 3yr repair extension on it; she's had no issues with the camera, so it's more an "if" than "when" scenario of getting it replaced.
Meanwhile, I'm still rockin' my 5S with no issues, it was replaced once about two years ago for issues with the SIM card. No issues since.
Well again short of any math to say how frequently this problem occurs, and how the owners who see it treat their phones, this is just so much free association.
Hard to know without an analysis. Probably this is lead free solder. Maybe it is more brittle? Maybe there are formulations that are less brittle?
It is amazing that as much as we focus on the high tech items such as transistors most of the failures see to arise from bad connectors and frayed cables.
Hope you included some freshly printed greens because that's all he cares about.
That would be too obvious. They way they are doing it now throws most people off track.
The chips them self will but from watching a decent amount of videos on it and repairing a few myself. Some of the pads under the touch IC's will get some light corrosion preventing the solder ball from sticking to the pad and even after reflowing touch will probably fail again after a short period of time
This is exactly why apple/Timmy isn't worry about the lazy iPhone 7 design!
This is very interesting..... My daughter cracked the screen on her 6plus and I had it replaced at the going rate (cant remember what it was $150+ believe). Just after the new screen went out of warranty the grey bar of unresponsiveness happened...... Took it into apple and they replaced the entire phone (well out of warranty so thanks but.......). I now see why they did this.... a known issue they kept "secret" lol.
Yup, I had this happen on a "new" phone. I exchanged mine do to a warranty defect and when my new one came in the mail it had this gray bar. To make matters worse I had to put a deposit for the new (jacked up) phone and another phone and then mail both back.
I had my 6 Plus replaced probably over 4 months ago for this exact issue. Didn't think anything of it at the time, but it's definitely more widespread than first thought.
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