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Help! A mysterious hole has appeared on my iPhone! *Pics*

Z

Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 10, 2006
7,302
2,058
Okay folks, the other night I was using my iPhone, and noticed that for some reason, it was unusually difficult to press the sleep/wake button, like the button was barely sticking out from the plastic. Upon further inspection, I noticed a *gasp* hole (almost cone shaped) behind the button on the right side. "What!?" I thought. "How did this get here?" Just hours before, the phone was hole-free.

Well, its been 24 hours, and I still have no idea how it got there. I have not dropped, scratched, or damaged my iPhone at all, in fact, I have not even brought it outside for about 3 days since the only time I've left my house (currently at a summer home) was to go buy food, and I didn't need the phone so I didn't bring it. The hole is quite small, but disconcerting nonetheless. I was talking to someone about it, and they said that during manufacturing if one part of the case is not strong enough, even if it is a tiny point, that area can crumble or break in the future if put under even the slightest pressure. So my guess is that that tiny part of the casing was not made 100% properly, and it simply broke, leaving a small hole behind. I'm worried about what future consequences this little hole might bring if I don't exchange the phone, since it is now much more prone to water damage, etc, since the hole goes into the phone (not a dent, it actually goes all the way through!).

Here are some pictures. What should I do?

DSC_0417.jpg


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DSC_0422.jpg
 
na, then it would actually melt...this is more of a 'some1 stuck a paperclip into the iPhone and kept going through'(not saying you did that..but...your very young son/daughter??)

id def. exchange it..
 
I must say, it does indeed look more like a hole caused by something penetrating the plastic casing, not from something internal.

I wish you luck with the Apple store, hopefully they're nice and don't give you a hard time.
 
Looks kind of like it came from the inside out the way it is funnel shaped, like when you shoot a piece of glass with a bb.
 
fireshot91 said:
na, then it would actually melt...this is more of a 'some1 stuck a paperclip into the iPhone and kept going through'(not saying you did that..but...your very young son/daughter??)

id def. exchange it..
Click to expand...

Yeah I definitely not poke a paperclip into it (lol) and I know no one else messed with it. In fact, I took a toothpick and poked around other places near the hole (bad idea I know) but I found that the surrounding plastic is indeed solid so now I'm even more at a loss of what created it.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to even try to return the phone until I get back from vacation on the 14th. I guess I'll give Apple a call in the meantime and see what they say.
 
A legitimate hole in the iPhone? Thank the maker that it isn't another newbie asking about the sensors on the front.

It looks like there was a defect in the plastic an it snagged on something an it got ripped out, or the sleep button popped it out.

TEG
 
TEG said:
A legitimate hole in the iPhone? Thank the maker that it isn't another newbie asking about the sensors on the front.

It looks like there was a defect in the plastic an it snagged on something an it got ripped out, or the sleep button popped it out.

TEG
Click to expand...

I was thinking something like that too, since the second I noticed the hole the sleep/wake button was genuinely more difficult to press, and it was working perfectly (little effort was needed to push it) before I found the hole. Even now it is more recessed (the button) than it was before. And the hole being directly in contact with the button raises more questions.
 
Did you put your phone in your pocket and then put a pen in your pocket too? :confused:
 
There are plenty of posts about the plastic on the iPhone being brittle and cracking. Check the iPhone cracking threads and see some of the pictures posted there. It's not difficult to imagine cracks close to each other leading to a piece of the plastic shell breaking off.
 
This is certainly not surface cracking or anything like that.

These plastics are made via injection moulding, so that kicks out any real chances of a defect with the plastic.

I really dont know,

Honestly to me it looks like its been prodded by something into the iphone, hence that inwards shape.

This can be so easily passed of as a cosmetic damage :(

Sorry but the area is so minute and specific, it really has convinced me that it has been prodded or harmed externally and therefore apple have the opportunity to not replace it for you.

The only thing I can think of is welding with flux cord could have damaged it ever so slighly in the factory, but still wouldnt explain the inwards shape.
 
Maybe the hole was made by one of those nasty Internet worms you hear about on the news all the time...
 
This to me looks like a bubble in the white casing that was there upon manufacturing, that surfaced from a slight bump or knock. I have a black 16GB and have a little airpocket about that size in the back of my device. The top of it hasn't broken off like that, but I could imagine that if it did, it would look something like that.
 
I have a tiny bubble on mine 16GB black, I read somebody picked one off and it left a hole, but who knows I'm not gonna try it.
 
To be honest your expectations about the iPhone are unrealistic and you should be grateful for the hole that has appeared.

It's ridiculous to assume you can buy a device referred to as the 'Jesus phone' and not expect it to be hole-y.
 
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