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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
The iPhone 5 on display at my local Verizon store had pretty visible marks on each side and on the back where the metal and glass meet. It had only been there a few hours.
 
My experiences today were just plain awful.

Waited hours in line for my first iPhone launch, was pretty excited to pick up the sexy looking black iPhone. 20th in line or so, everything was pretty much smooth besides them running out of 16GB models instantly. Bought the 32GB, didn't care just wanted the phone! When the employee activated the phone and handed it to me I didn't notice anything off the bat- wasn't really expecting there to be an issue with it at all anyway. Hurried home, peeled off the stickers, plugged it into my computer to run a backup from data off my 4. Then I found this post on the front page of Reddit and was wondering what the ruckus was about. Read a few posts, feared the worst, looked at my phone and sure enough there was a pretty noticeable scuff mark at the top left. Then I inspected some more, they were on the bottom, near the antennae, on the sides, just awful, awful. My OCD was going off the charts and I didn't care how ridiculous I sounded, I paid this much for it, I want a flawless phone!

So I went back to Verizon and told the employees what was up, they had me wait like 30 minutes while they dealt with the massive amount of people coming in every minute to ask if they had any iPhone 5's left. Finally, they were ready to assist me, I pleaded my case, they spent about 10 minutes passing it around, handed it back to me and told me they couldn't do anything. Asked to see the manager and she accused me of dropping the phone and that I might have better luck returning it if I went to the Apple store. I was taken aback and she gave me a look as if I was trying to scam them out of getting a new phone after my own careless mistake or something- I did not feel like dealing with these Verizon employees and left after responding with "Don't you think there would've been more significant damage to the case had I dropped it?" they didn't care.

Called up Apple, again I pleaded my case and asked if they had been receiving any similar reports. They said no and told me I have 14 days to return it but I'd have to do it through Verizon. Go back to Verizon and told them I was told from a CR from Apple that I could return it here after they had just instructed me to go to Apple. They said that was fine but I'd have to pay some fees to return it. This was outrageous, I simply refused and left the store.

After people started posting more pictures and articles/blog posts were being made, I collected this on my phone and took it back to Verizon. I got to talk to a different employee this time and showed him everything about how I'm not the only one with this problem and that they'd likely get similar concerns from customers soon enough. The employee was in disbelief that I was returning it for just some scratch marks and made some comment about how it really wasn't that noticeable of an issue and that he'd have to talk to his manager for permission to return it. While he waited for his manager to respond, he took a look at the models on display and sure enough, there were scuff marks all along the edges on the two that were there. I didn't see the manager again but they gave him the go ahead to return my phone and I ordered a black 16GB one this time. Have to wait till Oct. 19 but oh well. Horrible day and a huge waste of time :/
 
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My experiences today were just plain awful.

Moral of the story, always order directly from apple. I ordered from apple even after delivery changed to 2 weeks just for situations like this (luckily, I still got on launch day). It's a lot easier to deal with apple if you order directly from them.
 
you guys camp for this shizz...wtf man get a job or get laid. I went in and got my ticket waited around for 10 minutes and was called up to pick up my 2 unlocked full price iphones. Picked the white one since they ran out and seems like apple did me a favor since black is crap quality. Next time sleep in and walk into a apple store around noon and I guarantee you that you will be first in line. Go any other time and you will have to wait.
 

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My black model had 2-3 scratches on the side out the box. I'll probably try to swap it out within the 30 day return policy. Trying to let a few batches come through before swapping for better luck.
 
I'm very surprised this has not gotten back to apple yet. This is a horror story. So glad I exchanged black for white!!!
 
The good news is the Apple store is very close. Went back after seeing the scratches. Arrived to a big line (still) but the employees walking the line walked me to the front & replaced it.

I got lucky. The new one is also scratched but not as bad. Only three on the back near the logo. All less that an inch. I've resigned myself to covering it with a case.

Yikes, I've got 1 very very tiny scuff and it's not indented metal or anything just barely noticeable on the edge if you angle the phone against light, it's not even in the middle of the band so looking at the phone dead on its not visible. I'll maybe post a pic in a bit.

I was thinking of replacing it but hearing this I'll probably keep it. I seen some bad displays as well with ugly flashlights. I'd hate to get one with light leakage and scrapes going down the middle of the band or back frame mine are good.
 
Apple HAD to have put the iPhone 5 through real world tests. I'm sure people at Apple have been using the iPhone 5 for over a month now. (If not longer) And I'm sure they had to have noticed these issues occurring over time... If not right away. The real concern is why choose to go through with something that you known will be an issue...

My only guess is to release a case to "protect your phone from scratches occurring" at a lovely price of $29.99... And make millions more...
 
I'm not gonna say mine's flawless, but scuffed isn't the right word. A couple very fine imperfections on the back (I'm talking maybe 0.1mm in diameter). That'd happen over normal usage anyway, I'm sure.

Then a tiny (like, must have a direct light source to see it) speck or two of dust sandwiched between the glass and the black border around the screen (not ON the screen, or close for that matter). Which I've had on what? 60% of iPhone's I've owned. Whatever.
 
Walk into an Apple store in 10 days and look how the demo models are holding up. The ones in the store take alot of abuse so we'll know how normal wear and tear will affect the phone.
 
Anybody feel like compiling serial number prefixes?

Black 16 GB GSM, deep scratch on front chamfered edge at top left corner, otherwise perfect.

Serial begins with F18…

Wondering if most/all of these came from the same factory…?
 
So does a skin NOT solve the problem? Considering Ghost Armor/Zagg but hearing that it doesn't do much because it doesn't cover the scuff-prone areas.
 
I've got 2 very tiny little scuffs as you see here, personally doesn't bother me going to just put a body skin on it and keep it. I probably would be denied even trying to return it right?! I mean look how small they are

Image

Got something similar to this on mine. Doesn't bother me too much. Bothers me more that the colour of the SIM card tray is slightly different compared to the antenna :)

Also found a bunch of marks on the tray the iPhone rests on in the box. That was odd.
 
Those who have not seen the actual Black iPhone 5 model will not understand the frustration of those who got one and got disappointed with the imperfections. It's a real issue.

If you get a perfect black iphone 5 out of the box, it will still have the problem after a few days of use :cool:

We got spoiled by the iPhone 4/4s body which has scratch resistant glass on both sides.

Just buy a clear case and enjoy the phone :D
 
Here's a good photo I took of my roommate's 16GB Verizon black model. Thought it was flawless but then a closer look at the edge bands where the antenna lines meet there seems to be smudgy areas where the black color isn't fully applied and the regular aluminum color shines through, similar to these other posts. Chiming in with yet another.

The iPhone 5 came out and the 4S camera still impresses. Good sign for me. haha.

Mines the same way dude. Just on the top half though, but on both sides. From the looks of it though we got off easy. I'm keeping mine.
 
got this out of the box
pic is on volume side of phone
got couple on bottom side and on on top of sim port
 

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This is friggin horse ish. I thought I was one of the lucky ones who was scuff free. I then find that right before I plugged in a wire into the headphone jack there were two quite noticeable scuffs there. I'm pissed as hell.
 
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