Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Increased iPhone 5 Quality Control Standards to Address Scratches Slowing Production

I get why this important... I really do... but it occurs to me that a ton of effort and cost is being spent to make something perfect that will end up getting made imperfect within a few weeks of use by most buyers.

It almost seems like it would be more productive to add a "scratch and dent" area in the refurb store and let people who intend to actually use their iPhones, get a small discount for taking a pre-scratched phone. But I doubt Apple would ever go that route.
 
Mine had a chip in the side when I got it.
Then it slid out of my lap and hit a metal part of a chair and it got a little nick.

I Pre-Ordered mine at 3AM it was in the first batch.
 
JForestZ34 said:
Let me get this right. Phil says its normal and now they want to slow production for quality control. Can you say Phil is a stone faced liar!!!!!!!!!!!


James
Click to expand...

It's simple - Phil's comment is a PR move designed to protect Apple. They don't want to disclose a problem publicly because if they do, then there would likely be an uptick in the amount of returns, even those who are not having the scratching issues. This could have a negative effect on quarterly earnings and is not in Apple's best interest.

Apple is, based on rumors and various reports, instead handling this quietly - after receiving reports of easy scratching and/or scratches already on new devices in-box, they chalk it up to a QC issue and get on the horn to their factory managers and tell them to fix these issues. They may even have engineers examining the problem to figure out how best to fix it for devices going forward.

Overall, I think this is fairly standard practice for Apple when they have hardware defect issues like this.
 
FieldingMellish said:
The story as written plainly indicate that the scratches, dents and bending are a design and material specification problem and not a manufacturing problem.
Click to expand...

The story indicates nothing other than the bias of the writer, who has little actual facts.

If this was a design etc issue how come thousands of iPhones arrived and continue to arrive with zero of this issues, at proportions well above the ones with issues. A design flaw should be so perverse that the lack of issue is the rarity, not the presence.

This is tabloid tactic smack talk and nothing else. Same with the talk about strikes, fights etc. Foxconn admits there were a couple of scuffles at that plant but not the nature of them or what product line it was on and yet everyone assumes that it was a huge deal etc. truth is that it could have been a fight over in the Kindle line cause one guy looked at another ones girlfriend, or someone farted and didn't say excuse me or some equally unrelated issue.
 
Rocko1 said:
The article mentioned the aluminum, the iPhone 5 is made out of 6061 grade. They need to use the tempered version of 6061, which is 6061-T6. It's double the strength, but of course more expensive. Lets see if Apple changes to a tempered aluminum as this would make a much better, more dent/scratch proof phone.
Click to expand...

Apple cannot possibly please every single person in the world. And there is only one type of person that they need to satisfy: Their shareholders.

Using a more expensive grade of aluminum would cut down on profits.

Sure, there might be a tiny minority of people who even would notice an insignificant scuff, and using super-expensive materials would please those kind of nutcases. But really, there is no good reason for Apple to cater to nutjobs at the expense of the only people who matter: The institutional investors.
 
JForestZ34 said:
Let me get this right. Phil says its normal and now they want to slow production for quality control. Can you say Phil is a stone faced liar!!!!!!!!!!!


James
Click to expand...

Phil was saying metal scratching is normal (as we saw this on the original iPhone), but allowing obviously damaged units full of nicks and scuffs and units with defective anodizing coating to slip past QC is obviously not normal.
 
QCassidy352 said:
(d) Get over your OCD.
Click to expand...

The first step is admitting you have a problem. I suspect this is where the problem lies...

I'd love to see an Apple Genius look at an iphone and tell the user to Get over their OCD, that would be gold!
 
Glad they are looking into it. I made the mistake of using one of the new Griffin clear cases. I throw my phone in my pocket and due to the loose fit something got behind the case. I have white pit marks all over the back of my phone. Not a big deal, but I do wish I ordered the white phone, just so it stayed cleaner looking for resale later.
 
iGrip said:
Apple cannot possibly please every single person in the world. And there is only one type of person that they need to satisfy: Their shareholders.

Using a more expensive grade of aluminum would cut down on profits.

Sure, there might be a tiny minority of people who even would notice an insignificant scuff, and using super-expensive materials would please those kind of nutcases. But really, there is no good reason for Apple to cater to nutjobs at the expense of the only people who matter: The institutional investors.
Click to expand...

Actually apple has to please customers more than share holders cause after all the customers are the reason why apple is doing so well.


James
 
iGrip said:
Apple cannot possibly please every single person in the world. And there is only one type of person that they need to satisfy: Their shareholders.

Using a more expensive grade of aluminum would cut down on profits.

Sure, there might be a tiny minority of people who even would notice an insignificant scuff, and using super-expensive materials would please those kind of nutcases. But really, there is no good reason for Apple to cater to nutjobs at the expense of the only people who matter: The institutional investors.
Click to expand...

So in summary, Apple should use the cheapest materials possible?

The customers are nutjobs and only people that matter are the institutional investors. Would you be a shareholder by chance? :rolleyes:
 
JForestZ34 said:
Actually apple has to please customers more than share holders cause after all the customers are the reason why apple is doing so well.


James
Click to expand...

100% thats why the motto " the customers always right " has stood forever. Without consumers/customers you can't sell products.
 
JForestZ34 said:
Actually apple has to please customers more than share holders cause after all the customers are the reason why apple is doing so well.


James
Click to expand...

Damn, I was going to see if he realised this, put you went straight for the punch line :)
 
Tiger8 said:
This will minimize disappointment when people open the box, but they are not addressing the real issue: This thing SCRATCHES EASILY. So if the poor Foxconn employee makes a scratch free unit, it is only a matter of days (hours) before you yourself scratch it!
Click to expand...

Well aluminum scratches. If you have an issue with that, don't buy the phone. It's that simple.
 
charlituna said:
The story indicates nothing other than the bias of the writer, who has little actual facts.

If this was a design etc issue how come thousands of iPhones arrived and continue to arrive with zero of this issues, at proportions well above the ones with issues. A design flaw should be so perverse that the lack of issue is the rarity, not the presence.

This is tabloid tactic smack talk and nothing else. Same with the talk about strikes, fights etc. Foxconn admits there were a couple of scuffles at that plant but not the nature of them or what product line it was on and yet everyone assumes that it was a huge deal etc. truth is that it could have been a fight over in the Kindle line cause one guy looked at another ones girlfriend, or someone farted and didn't say excuse me or some equally unrelated issue.
Click to expand...

How do you know with complete certainty that the writer is biased and has little or no facts?
 
If so many phones are being scratched at the factory what do people think is going to happen when they actually use the phone?

Just dont order the black iphone, anyone who does is going to seriously regret it after a year of use.
 
iGrip said:
Apple cannot possibly please every single person in the world. And there is only one type of person that they need to satisfy: Their shareholders.

Using a more expensive grade of aluminum would cut down on profits.

Sure, there might be a tiny minority of people who even would notice an insignificant scuff, and using super-expensive materials would please those kind of nutcases. But really, there is no good reason for Apple to cater to nutjobs at the expense of the only people who matter: The institutional investors.
Click to expand...

So what your advocating is annoying your customer base so you can impress your shareholders with the quarterly earnings report....

This is what's wrong with American companies a lack of a long term strategy that you stick to. iToys are AAPL's business don't kill the golden goose for Q4 FY12 profits.
 
Rogifan said:
Nicks out of the box aren't a design issue otherwise wouldn't everyone receive damaged phones out of the box?
Click to expand...

Someone actually using his brain. Correct. A design flaw would not be occurring in well under 10% of units. Well under 2% even. Flawless would be the rarity.

This is more likely a flaw in delivery. Those boxes aren't all that protective. The ones they ship to their service bars come in trays that are so snug they don't drop out (I watched a Genius flip the tray out to remove the phone, didn't budge). But the retail ones are the same loose tray where the iphone can and does slide around. If it was manhandled in any way after production and packaging, scuffs would happen from impact with the box if it was hard enough. It's even possible that the finished hardware goes in a temp box to a center for software install and then final packaging and that was the in transit where the issues occurred. The software installers aren't likely inspecting them for physical issues because that would have been done at the hardware shop etc. So a few got out. There were 'sources' that said that all the affected units were a single production run so perhaps the 'fix' was to have the software house visually check the phones before proceeding to catch such issues.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
You're failing to realize that 1) some of us have flawless units that we can't get to scratch for the life of us so it can't be the anodizing coating across the board and 2) demand has never been higher than in the past (including the 4/4S) so the workers may be deliberately allowing damaged units to slip past QC just to satisfy the higher demand under a time gun, at least until Apple put a stop to it.
Click to expand...

Uh, give me your phone, and i'll scratch it in a heartbeat.
 
I think Apple users are more concerned with aesthetic impurities than users of other smartphone brands, mainly because they're perfectionists themselves and appreciate great design like Apple.

I've never thought twice about scratches that appeared on my HTC Android device, but I'm more cognizant of potentially getting blemishes on my iPhone because unlike other devices, I feel like I'm holding a piece of art in my hands.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back