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iPhone 12 Pro Is your iPhone 12 mini/pro paint peeling?

K

kard32

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 3, 2020
38
54
Asking around about this, including in Reddit. Apparently there are reports of paint peeling on the iPhone 12/pro. See here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/iPhone12Mini/comments/ldo0fl

iPhone 12 pro or pro max paint peeling - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Is this happening to your phone?

Also--I thought these were anodized colors? I didn't realize they were just painted on. My 11 Pro still looks perfect.

Really concerned about this... I was thinking of trading up my 11P but now I'm not so sure.
 
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My iPhone 12 mini (received on launch day) still looks new. I use it naked except when transporting (Apple leather sleeve).

The picture looks like the phone has had a lot of rubbing in that area. That kind of damage would happen from sliding the phone across the surface a lot etc. That doesn't look like a manufacturing defect.
 
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iPhones aren't painted, they're anodized. Anodizing aluminum is a surface oxidation process. So while there isn't paint on iPhones, apparently the anodizing is super thin and chipping off.
It's a symptom of poor quality control and penny pinching
 
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Apple_Robert said:
My iPhone 12 mini (received on launch day) still looks new. I use it naked except when transporting (Apple leather sleeve).

The picture looks like the phone has had a lot of rubbing in that area.
Click to expand...
Do you think this is just because the minis are 'painted on', vs anodized? I just don't see this happening to my 11 Pro (Silver) - the color there looks 'baked on' to the device, if that makes sense.
 
My launch 12 Pro is still perfect. That seems odd though. I've heard of some people having issues with past aluminium iphones with the anodizing coming off but it seems to be very uncommon. If I remember correctly some people may have sweat that seems to damage the surface of the phone but most people don't have the problem.
 
now i see it said:
now i see it said:
iPhones aren't painted, they're anodized. Anodizing aluminum is a surface oxidation process. So while there isn't paint on iPhones, apparently the anodizing is super thin and chipping off.
It's a symptom of poor quality control and penny pinching
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Matthew.H said:
My launch 12 Pro is still perfect. That seems odd though. I've heard of some people having issues with past aluminium iphones with the anodizing coming off but it seems to be very uncommon. If I remember correctly some people may have sweat that seems to damage the surface of the phone but most people don't have the problem.
Click to expand...
Great to hear yours is still fine. I'm trying to figure out if there's a differentiation here between the minis and Pros. I was planning on the mini.

I can't imagine sweat might be the factor though..I mean, every person sweats. I feel like that's the first thing they would've watched out for
 
kard32 said:
Great to hear yours is still fine. I'm trying to figure out if there's a differentiation here between the minis and Pros. I was planning on the mini.

I can't imagine sweat might be the factor though..I mean, every person sweats. I feel like that's the first thing they would've watched out for
Click to expand...
I think the cases generally started with the Apple Watch given that it's always next to the skin. Sweat does contain salt and some people do produce more salt in sweat than others. Salt will corrode aluminium if left and not cleaned off. Does seem weird that it's happened to the camera lenses though. The person could live on the coast as salty sea air can cause the same problem.
 
I don't think the iPhone 12 comes in the colors of the phone in the original photo. That owner has done some painting of their own perhaps?

iphone-12-select-2020.jpeg
 
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Apple_Robert said:
My iPhone 12 mini (received on launch day) still looks new. I use it naked except when transporting (Apple leather sleeve).

The picture looks like the phone has had a lot of rubbing in that area. That kind of damage would happen from sliding the phone across the surface a lot etc. That doesn't look like a manufacturing defect.
Click to expand...
Yup! Mine too. Looks new no chipping. And I don’t use a case, just a protector.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
I think you should go ahead and get the mini, OP. The guy on Reddit did something to his mini to cause that kind of wear, even if he didn't realize it at the time.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It looks like it was grinded or something, there no way it’s chipping that fast with even high use. It’s as though it’s a fake iPhone spray painted, or it’s been dragged through concrete or sand paper.
 
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Did JerryRigEverything get ahold of that phone or what? I’m usually sympathetic when people experience defects or quality control issues, but this very clearly reeks of user damage.

And I don’t even mean that in a user-was-internationally-damaging-the-phone way. I mean that as in, something happened, maybe an incident or two, or some repeated pattern over a longer period that caused that damage.
 
Valbunny said:
The reddit thread mentions that the owner cleans the phone with dish soap.
Click to expand...
Even then I think he’s probably using harsher chemicals. Dish soap won’t do that. Otherwise our skin would be in trouble.

edit: maybe those powder dish soap and you rub it harshly into the metal. That could do that damage.
 
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It looks as if it was being slid across a table or something similar to that for a long time. There's no way that's from just everyday use...
 
I got the Blue 12 and no chipping. I also clean mine every day with 70% alcohol wipes.
 
Something very odd there - the actual lenses protrude further than the surrounds*, so not even sliding the phone across something would account for that damage.

*for reasons best known to Apple
 
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