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iPhone 5 - black version scuffs (merged)

Is your black iPhone 5 scuffed, chipped or scratched?

  • Flawless

    Votes: 1,158 46.1%

  • Flawless because I put a case on it.

    Votes: 198 7.9%

  • Scuffed out of the box

    Votes: 820 32.7%

  • Scuffed/scratched shortly after

    Votes: 334 13.3%
  • Total voters
    2,510
striker33 said:
Although appealing, I still wouldn't go with the Note 2.

I found the S3 unbearable due to the horrible battery drain while not in use. It goes down 10% every 2-3 hours in standby, and thats with every sync option turned off and every other setting crippled. My iPhone 5 on the other hand went through 5% in 12 hours of standby (I overslept :eek:).

I could have got 2-3 days out of it with light use, but that would involve using power save mode, which destroys the performance on the device and makes it a truly horrible experience.
Click to expand...

I actually noticed the same exact thing on my GS3, my phones battery will decrease 20-30% over night while connected to wifi with no syncing or apps open, and wifi power save mode on too. Its strange
 
bdzer said:
Had the thing for a week. It's been covered with Ghost Armor and I have literally treated it like my baby and it has not touched anything but my hands, lap, pocket and a soft clean cloth on my desk and yet some of the sides are already rubbing off? WHAT THE.
Click to expand...

Pictures?
 
Bahroo said:
I actually noticed the same exact thing on my GS3, my phones battery will decrease 20-30% over night while connected to wifi with no syncing or apps open, and wifi power save mode on too. Its strange
Click to expand...

According to Samsung and the wealth of fandroids, having wifi on all the time actually saves power, and is on by default. Yet the iPhone has turned off wifi whilst on standby for years now and has far better battery life when not in use.

Whilst I never actually tried it, if I ever wind up with an S3 again I'll definitely be switching that option off by default and allowing it to use data when sleeping.
 
Oppressed said:
Pictures?
Click to expand...

Er, not sure how I'll be going about taking a picture of my phone when my phone is my only source of camera.

It's not noticeable until you actually look closely. Like previous pictures people have taken, it looks like dust until you try to clean it and realize.

After even closer inspection, I realize that this is actually happening to the edges around my whole phone...

I am so disappointed.

I was able to keep my 4S completely flawless for the whole last year..
 
Last edited:
I drove back to the Apple store today and inspected each display iPhone with a loupe. The black ones all had scratches to some degree. Sad.
 
bobright said:
I've been debating about returning mine since its only got 1 scuff that isn't too noticeable. Would you guys return yours for this? It's at the dead corner of where the camera and chaffed glass area is

BTW: it's not that dot on the band area that's lint as I've got a shield on sides :)
Click to expand...

Please tell me you're no serious? Because no matter what phone you will get if you look closely you will find something.

That is such a small issue that i cant believe you would consider returning a perfectly good phone
 
PBz said:
Been using iPhone since the first one but considering this as well. I like the Note but prefer Jelly Bean on Android device so Note 2 could rock. I'm still using a 4 as I skipped 4S waiting for 5. Not impressed with iOS 6 or 5 really & I'm NOT playing the exchange game where I have to feel guilty for a new product shipping "new" with nicks/scratches/etc. Right now polycarbonate > iOS 6 IMO.
Click to expand...

You'll be back to iPhone in a month. This message board is ****ing pathetic. Have fun complaining on the Android forums! PEACE.
 
bdzer said:
Er, not sure how I'll be going about taking a picture of my phone when my phone is my only source of camera.

It's not noticeable until you actually look closely. Like previous pictures people have taken, it looks like dust until you try to clean it and realize.

After even closer inspection, I realize that this is actually happening to the edges around my whole phone...

I am so disappointed.

I was able to keep my 4S completely flawless for the whole last year..
Click to expand...

Mirror?
 
bdzer said:
Had the thing for a week. It's been covered with Ghost Armor and I have literally treated it like my baby and it has not touched anything but my hands, lap, pocket and a soft clean cloth on my desk and yet some of the sides are already rubbing off? WHAT THE.
Click to expand...

I told you black phone buyers this would happen. It's a body chemistry issue- some people's sweat can damage thin black anodize. Especially if improperly sealed.
 
This is terrible!

attachment.php
 
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mdorais said:
I know this is probably obvious to most of you guys but never, ever, buy your iPhone from AT&T. I only did so because I was making changes to my plan and thought it made sense to order the phones at the same time.
Anyway, my black iPhone 5 arrived scuffed out of the box. Apple customer support told me to call AT&T since I bought it from them and now I have AT&T on the phone saying since the box wasn't damaged then I need to call Apple because it's a "manufacturer's defect".
So I just talked to the Apple rep and they won't waive a "return fee" by mail or whatever so they're advising me to go into an Apple Store which I'll do later today. I just don't want the Apple Store to tell me it's an AT&T issue.
The Apple supervisor on the phone said returns are really supposed to be handled by AT&T and that Apple is going above and beyond to help me. I told him that I'm caught in the middle and AT&T isn't budging so I just hope Apple can help me directly. I'll see what happens.
Click to expand...

OK I went to the Apple Store today and the employee replaced it for me with no problems whatsoever. I guess even though they're sold out of the boxed models they have tons of replacements for issues like mine. I'm sure glad I didn't have to go through 3 or 4 returns like other people did before finding a non-scuffed model. It's so nice to have a new phone now that actually looks new!
 
You guys are crazy


The scuff marks are a special security feature of the iPhone 5

If your phone gets lost or stolen , you will be able to identify it by the unique scuff marks
No other phone has the same marks in the same places

The iPhone 4S had Siri
The iPhone 5 has this new security feature

Much better than fingerprint or face recognition


Your very own iPhone birthmarks
 
bdzer said:
Had the thing for a week. It's been covered with Ghost Armor and I have literally treated it like my baby and it has not touched anything but my hands, lap, pocket and a soft clean cloth on my desk and yet some of the sides are already rubbing off? WHAT THE.
Click to expand...

Mine is the same, had a couple of nicks out of the box, but wasn't too concerned because they were so small, now it is rubbing off all around the edges. I really look after my phones and this is the first time I've had one scratch so easily.

Is it possible that some are painted/anodized thinner than others and easier to scuff?

I want to take it back now for a replacement but not sure if it's just a waste of time...

(I'll try to get some pics)
 
iMacca44 said:
Mine is the same, had a couple of nicks out of the box, but wasn't too concerned because they were so small, now it is rubbing off all around the edges. I really look after my phones and this is the first time I've had one scratch so easily.

Is it possible that some are painted/anodized thinner than others and easier to scuff?

I want to take it back now for a replacement but not sure if it's just a waste of time...

(I'll try to get some pics)
Click to expand...

Defective anodizing coating is my bet if it scratches that easily. No scratch on my naked iP5 so far so I know it's not supposed to scratch that easily.
 
Hmm... struggled to get a decent pic (it's much more obvious in person) but here is mine after 1 week, the top right corner has rubbed and the bottom came a bit scuffed but has gotten worse

Top
IMG_38022.jpg


Bottom
IMG_38032.jpg


----------
JayLenochiniMac said:
Defective anodizing coating is my bet if it scratches that easily. No scratch on my naked iP5 so far so I know it's not supposed to scratch that easily.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks, I'm going to the Apple Store tomorrow to see what they say.
 
There must be some kind of way to fix it...maybe plasti dip the sides..comes in matte black colour too

Anyone know of anything ??
 
Anajaf27 said:
There must be some kind of way to fix it...maybe plasti dip the sides..comes in matte black colour too

Anyone know of anything ??
Click to expand...

That would probably work but you'd obviously have to take the phone apart - And customers shouldn't be expected to do that just to safeguard a device they paid good money for.

The scuff problem isn't affecting all iPhone's. I've had mine half a week and have yet to damage it in any way.
 
My 1st ip5 was replaced due the scuffs and so far this one is holding up pretty good..always keeping it in a case also
 
iMacca44 said:
Hmm... struggled to get a decent pic (it's much more obvious in person) but here is mine after 1 week, the top right corner has rubbed and the bottom came a bit scuffed but has gotten worse

Top
Image

Bottom
Image

----------



Cool thanks, I'm going to the Apple Store tomorrow to see what they say.
Click to expand...

Mine if VERY similar to this except it's on the front. I'm surprised Apple has yet to actually address this issue. Paying $700 for a device that has its coating rubbing off after a little more than a week of use?
 
I'm on my 2nd iPhone 5.

First one had some kind of artifact inside the camera lens (grain, plastic piece, no idea)

2nd iPhone had a nice scuff mark on the top edge of the aluminum but I took it anyway since they had no others in the store.

Might get a 3rd one for fun next week
 
I need to make a decision to swap for white or keep black.

Black
I prefer the black and the white one scratches too going by the pics in the white scuffs thread

White
Silver banding shows less scuffs/marks and in the apple store I went to, none white or black had any marks I could find except until I looked at the connector at the bottom, where the black iphones had silver marks.

Either way, I'm not too fond of cases because the benefit of a slimmer, lighter phone is gone but I will get one.
 
Still100 said:
I need to make a decision to swap for white or keep black.

Black
I prefer the black and the white one scratches too going by the pics in the white scuffs thread

White
Silver banding shows less scuffs/marks and in the apple store I went to, none white or black had any marks I could find except until I looked at the connector at the bottom, where the black iphones had silver marks.

Either way, I'm not too fond of cases because the benefit of a slimmer, lighter phone is gone but I will get one.
Click to expand...

Over time the white one will look a lot worse. You only need to look at the original iPhone to see how bad raw aluminium gets.
 
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