On my 6th iPhone 5...sigh...

[Bossyman]

Bought my first at apple store in nj. 4 imperfections. Bought one for my son at the same time, his was flawless. Went to a different apple store in nj on Sunday and went through 3 boxes. All but the last had damage. When I got home, I realized that the one I took had silver bleeding through the black in two places on the ottom of the phone. Went back to original apple store tonight and went through 2 boxes before finding an almost perfect one. Took it. This is seriously nuts! Where is the QC?

Anyway, my message is, they have a ton of phones for exchange. If yours is damaged, go get a new one.

 

[PhoenixMac]

Bought my first at apple store in nj. 4 imperfections. Bought one for my son at the same time, his was flawless. Went to a different apple store in nj on Sunday and went through 3 boxes. All but the last had damage. When I got home, I realized that the one I took had silver bleeding through the black in two places on the ottom of the phone. Went back to original apple store tonight and went through 2 boxes before finding an almost perfect one. Took it. This is seriously nuts! Where is the QC?

Anyway, my message is, they have a ton of phones for exchange. If yours is damaged, go get a new one.

Thats good to know, it could all be from the same batch that the damaged phones came from. Everyone I know with an iPhone 5 all have perfect ones. Do you know what week build your phone is, everyone that I know that have perfect ones all have a 34 week build.

 

[tigerfan41]

Good to hear that they have plenty of replacement stock. I'm headed there Wednesday to get my iPhone 5 with a defective home button replaced.

 

[Mikex6956]

That's suck ! apple has maybe sell 5 millions iphone 5 ! but 3 millions is defect !
A clear ratio of poor quality control !
I go last week to swap my 4S who got issue and i had to open 4 rebuilt **** box to get one acceptable and i realize the one who i was thinking was ok had some scratch on the plastic bezel near the screen.
The best of apple is on her back !
With a policy quality like this is a question of time before everything go down !
6th iphone 5 what is that **** ?????
There laughing at us !

 

[Matt8045]

Stop being so OCD its just a phone..

 

[KPOM]

Are you sure you aren't being unrealistic? If it has obvious scratches, dead pixels, or something isn't working right, that's one thing. But I don't understand going through box after box after box looking for minor flaws, minor light leak, or similar "issues." It's a phone, not a diamond ring.

That said, people seem to be getting flawless phones with an "indestructible" finish, or phones with lots of "scuffing." I wonder if it comes down to a bad batch or batches?

 

[taedouni]

How about you stick with one phone for 2-3 weeks that way you can get a different batch of iPhones. A lot of Apple customers may not even notice or care for the scruffs. You're preventing customers from receiving their iPhone. It's a bad batch so wait until a new batch comes. You have 30 days.

 

[clayj]

All I know is that I am on my THIRD iPhone 5 -- all three of them have had hairline scratches on the front glass. The only reason I stopped at three is that I didn't want to piss off the folks at the Apple Store too much and the third one's scratches are extremely minor.

I agree that Apple is having a lot more QC issues than they used to. They're producing a lot of units and problems are making it through. For what I pay for Apple gear, I do expect it to be FLAWLESS out of the box.

 

[JJJosh41]

I don't blame the OP one bit. You pay that much and you expect a new product. My phone had scratches under the camera lens (as in, on the inside). I took it back and all the employees started checking their phones for the same damage. We went through a couple phones before we found one without scratches. We all paid way too much to have a damaged product out of the box.

 

[applesith]

I'm so sorry to hear about your life of misfortune.

 

[KPOM]

I don't blame the OP one bit. You pay that much and you expect a new product. My phone had scratches under the camera lens (as in, on the inside). I took it back and all the employees started checking their phones for the same damage. We went through a couple phones before we found one without scratches. We all paid way too much to have a damaged product out of the box.

Are we all buying phones unsubsidized? I don't think that Apple phones are significant outliers in terms of cosmetic and other QC-related issues compared with Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and others.

 

[close2reality]

how do you figure out the build week?

 

[magicbrain]

excessive? yes

but $700 phone from apple never less should be almost perfect ...

 

[aquadisiac]

i would give up after the 3rd time.

 

[markrivers]

it's a FACT.
some people have a black cloud.

to the OP, i believe,that You believe there are imperfections in all the other 5 iPhones.

i would have stopped on the 3rd if that was me,
OR get a White and Silver instead.

 

[tigerfan41]

I don't see why the OP is wrong for continuing to exchange. He paid a lot of money for a phone and he deserves to get a flawless one for that amount of money. We, as consumers, should not have to pay for someone else's mistakes. Why should we have to settle for shotty worksmanship and QC?

In any event, I will be asking to test my new iPhone before taking it home. I expect it to (a) be fully functional (no bad buttons or hardware) and (b) to not have any imperfections. Given the fact that this is a $850 (or $300 subsidized) phone I don't think that's an unrealistic expectation.

 

[InfinitiG]

to the OP, maybe the iPhone is not for you

look in to the samsung S3 or the Nokia lumia

 

[tsduke]

to the OP, maybe the iPhone is not for you

look in to the samsung S3 or the Nokia lumia

Is the S3 less prone to QC issues?

 

[thadoggfather]

I don't see why the OP is wrong for continuing to exchange. He paid a lot of money for a phone and he deserves to get a flawless one for that amount of money. We, as consumers, should not have to pay for someone else's mistakes. Why should we have to settle for shotty worksmanship and QC?

In any event, I will be asking to test my new iPhone before taking it home. I expect it to (a) be fully functional (no bad buttons or hardware) and (b) to not have any imperfections. Given the fact that this is a $850 (or $300 subsidized) phone I don't think that's an unrealistic expectation.

Yeah i dont see the issue either.

I had to replace iPad3 a ton of times before I got one with a decent screen (after having 1 iPad1 and iPad2, no swaps)

But i'd rather let other people who haven't personally seen the issue decide what's defective and what's not :/

Or defend a mass manufactured product to its death.

 

[InfinitiG]

Is the S3 less prone to QC issues?

not sure, but both phones are far less "pretty" than the iphone, so OCD issues are much less likely

 

[markrivers]

I don't see why the OP is wrong for continuing to exchange. He paid a lot of money for a phone and he deserves to get a flawless one for that amount of money. We, as consumers, should not have to pay for someone else's mistakes. Why should we have to settle for shotty worksmanship and QC?

In any event, I will be asking to test my new iPhone before taking it home. I expect it to (a) be fully functional (no bad buttons or hardware) and (b) to not have any imperfections. Given the fact that this is a $850 (or $300 subsidized) phone I don't think that's an unrealistic expectation.

because the OP's story is so Unbelievable to begin with.
Normal scenario, the replacement (2nd) will be ok.. or the (3rd) in extreme cases.. but to go to a list up to 6th? that's just Delusional.

and the lack of pictures make this thread's reliability close to Zero point Zero.

 

[MattMJB0188]

to the OP, maybe the iPhone is not for you

look in to the samsung S3 or the Nokia lumia

Your like those annoying little gnats that keep flying in someones face, despite swatting them away. GO AWAY!!!

The OP clearly bought a very premium product and did not receive one. Why does this make him less of a person?

I went through about 20 iPhone 4S's until I got a good one. Does that mean the iPhone isn't for me??? No one on here except people with half of a brain want to admit Apple's QC is going down hill very fast.

Why should he settle for a defective phone when others who paid the exact same received one that's perfect?

 

[dazex]

I was told by the Apple gal that replacement phones don't come out of the stock. During launch events like these, they have a stash of phones that is for emergencies and replacement only. It's not part of their normal inventory that is sold.

It's for situation like replacing phones like the OP mentioned. He did provide a tidbit of info, in that they have plenty of iPhones for replacement. Everyone else chiming in with their personal view. Well, it wasn't constructive and add to further the discussion in any way.

I think the tight tolerance is sheer number of phones they had to produce made QC tougher this time around? Hopefully they get the situation under control.

 

[Munitalp]

Holy OCD batman... Go have a beer and relax! You're going to die at a young age if you keep going so nuts over a phone.

 

[pure3d2]

Stop being so OCD its just a phone..

Why should the iPhone 5 be held to a different standard than, say the iPhone 4 or 4S?

If you bought a brand new phone, it should be brand new, free of blemishes and defects. Try showing up to an Apple store and tell them that you only want to pay them 95% of the price for a phone with a few scratches on it.

Let us know how that goes.