Space Gray iPhone 5S. Boring?

[Fry-man22]

Nobody actually reported on this because nobody cares when Apple does something right and everybody likes to see big companies fail.

You can verify it yourself though. Just ask Apple to pull an out of warranty replacement and compare it to an old slate iPhone or their store models. If you looks closely you will see that the chamfer, the word "iPhone" and the Apple logo will not be black like the original but dark teal.

Essentially what Apple's problem was, was that they actually took a solid block of aluminium with two surface finishes, a polished finish and a matte finish then anodized the entire surface. The flaw was that the aluminium oxide (a material that is basically what most people know as "Ruby's" second in hardness to diamond) didn't bond very well with the polished surface. So what Apple did is they added an intermediate step where they actually created more of a satin finish on the entire device likely by glass blasting the entire phone before it was anodized.

If you look at a newer slate iPhone 5 in the light the Apple logo blends in more and has a worse contrast than the older ones, you can barley see the Apple logo on newer slate iPhones in most cases.

I didn't even read your post past where you said you had no reference. It was not reported on because it did not happen.

I had mine replaced last week and it's the exact same finish.

 

[Gjwilly]

Apple changed the of anodizing the slate iPhone 5 in May of 2013 so that it no longer has the same wear and tear issues as the launch day iPhone.

My iPhone 5 has been treated like absolute junk with no rear protective case and still looks 100% brand new.

My company just bought brand new slate iPhone 5s and the ones without cases look like crap 3 weeks later.
You can not anodize a sharp chamfer and expect wearability.
That's not something that Apple can fix. It's just the nature of anodization.

 

[bjb.butler]

Wished they woulda made a murdered out all black phone :/

 

[curiosity]

You can hardly see the Apple logo from some viewing angles. They should have used a deep black.

 

[user-name-here]

What does everyone else think of Space Gray replacing Slate? Does it looks boring?

I really liked the slate iphone 5 when it was released. It had a stealth bomber matte look with a hint of blue that was just amazing.

That hint of blue drove me nuts. To me make your black phone black Apple

That reminded me of when Samsung came out with the S3 in white and "pebble blue" instead of pure black - YUCK!

I'm also happy that the grey option won't show scuffs as badly as slate did

 

[darngooddesign]

Put it in a zaaaaaannnnyyyy case.

 

[Radiating]

I didn't even read your post past where you said you had no reference. It was not reported on because it did not happen.

I had mine replaced last week and it's the exact same finish.

You do realize that you're arguing with something that is an accepted fact. I've interviewed Apple store mangers as part of research into this issue that I was paid for and several of them are aware that this change happened. My job is to research subjects like this.

There are at least 3 possible reasons why you think you have a phone with the exact same finish:

#1. You have poor perception and can't notice the difference.

#2. Your replacement could have been old stock. Apple often keeps a few months of production runs in stock, and while not likely it could have been sitting around for a while.

#3 Apple could have gone back to the original finish for aesthetic reasons after complaints, as it looked better. In fact while interviewing an Apple store manager, one of them let it slip that he did not like the new finish as much and was going to complain.

My company just bought brand new slate iPhone 5s and the ones without cases look like crap 3 weeks later.
You can not anodize a sharp chamfer and expect wearability.
That's not something that Apple can fix. It's just the nature of anodization.

Agreed, you're basically putting the weakest point of the anodizing, where it has the lowest adhesion and is thinnest on the weakest part of the device where it has the smallest surface area on contact with anything else.It's not going to end well for anything even the strongest material. But I's had no issues with my slate iPhone 5 with a bumper, which I drop on concrete regularly and keep in my pocket with keys. It looks new.

 

[R.Stoychev]

I can't tell 100% till I see it in person but, the space gray color looks really nice from the pictures. WHERE was this color when I get my 5