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Spontaneous separation of new iPhone 5

sparky1680 said:
Here is another similar post

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16358111&posted=1#post16358111

titled: The mystery of my bent iPhone 5
Click to expand...

Similar in the fact that some kind of force was applied to bend your phones, yes, it's very similar.

tymaster50 said:
the poster above me just proved that these phones DO bend, no matter how hard apple fanboys wish they don't. It's a real issue and just because every geek site doesn't report doesn't mean it isn't real. We were just unlucky enough to have phones that did
Click to expand...

Of course the phone will bend... who here is saying it doesn't? Most are simply saying it doesn't happen all own it's own. No way, no how.
 
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Otter Box?

My separation looks identical to the other victims. I have had the phone for 2 months. I noticed it had separated last night. I have not dropped it, have never put it in my back pocket, have not put it to an intentional stress test. It has always been in an Otter Box. Sometimes when I get in the car it is in my front pants pocket. It is hard to get out with the seat belt on, but I think if I had bent it in while sitting it would have been uncomfortable enough that I would have felt it. Also, as some other victims have noted, it does not look like it was forcibly bent, just that the back pulled away from the screen.

So I return to the Otter Box. It is very solid, but with a two additional layers of plastic, the phone gets very hot. I checked after the damage, and a had 31 tasks operating, including the Maps app, which always seems to run hot. So my question is, does anyone else think this is at least in part a thermal issue, and if so, is it compounded by the Otter Box?
 
Same issue. Don't carry in back pocket. Did not drop and no marks on it. Spoke with Apple and set up appt at store tonight.
 
What an odd comment. You judge the veracity of someone's claim by their macrumors join date? How about using reason to evaluate their statement instead of a bizarre metric like when they joined an Internet message board.

Regarding the separations: I haven't had this issue with my iPhone 5 but I have had an issue with my 2009 MacBook Pro 17" which may be related. The trackpad on my MBP has become gradually raised to the point that the "glass" button is now slightly above the surrounding body of the Mac, and it is no longer possible tophysically "click" the trackpad. Googling around, I find this problem is not uncommon, and is caused by a gradual expansion of the Mac's internal battery, which rests beneath the trackpad. The battery expands and puts upward pressure on the internal underside of the trackpad, rendering it unusable. Apple actually had a free battery replacement program for this particular model for a while.

I wonder if a defective/expanding battery could be partially responsible for these iPhone 5 separations? The battery expands, causing greater internal pressure on the front/back panels of the phone, eventually causing the structure to crack at the weakest point (edge near volume button) and/or making it easier than normal to crack the phone accidentally.

Just an untested hypothesis.
 
Bent Iphone is not BS.

SO guys - seen all the uppity replies from members who obviously, through being a member of macrumors for a long while, have the authority to say whether this is a real claim or not in their ultimate wisdom.

I am in the UK. Last night I put my phone on charge and it was straight. I know it was straight because I'd been showing it to my girlfriend talking about how I wish Apple would have used one rocker button for the volume controls.

Anyway, I woke up this morning, take a hold of my iP5 and guess what? The entire top left hand corner is bent backwards starting at the lower volume button. The front screen has started to separate from the metal unibody and there is a tiny kink where the lower volume button is.

When I held the phone, it was incredibly hot but I have heard reports of this happening spontaneously as well.

Before you all chime in and say 'It must be in your pocket..Must have had some force blah blah' let me remind you.

iPhone straight.

iPhone charged (whilst lying on wooden nightstand)

iPhone bent.

I've just got off the phone and Apple said to take it to an apple store for a replacement. They offered me a straight repair whilst I was on the phone but I chose to take it for a swap at an apple store tomorrow at 6. I'll post the receipt tomorrow.

If anyone has this issue, I'd thoroughly recommend you mention the phone was warm to try and get this resolved.

This is a real issue and does happen 'spontaneously' (although it does have a cause, it seems - not just voodoo and hoodoo) You can all 'call BS' but this is real and does happen. I'll grab a picture when i can (my main picture device is my iphone, hence no picture at the minute)


_ PS my join date is new because I wanted to post this, not because for some weird reason I'd get a kick out of posted a fake account of my bent iPhone.
 
If it happened during charging, I could well believe the battery has expanded and caused the case to bend. Aluminium is pretty soft, it wouldn't take that much to bend an iPhone 5 case.
 
fat jez said:
If it happened during charging, I could well believe the battery has expanded and caused the case to bend. Aluminium is pretty soft, it wouldn't take that much to bend an iPhone 5 case.
Click to expand...

*yawn*
sure that could be what happened. It's funny that all of a sudden this has started happening to iPhone 5 owners and not to 3g/3gs/4/4s owners.
Also, you'd be able to see if the battery expanded by a brief look inside/pulling it apart. So you'd think apple would be happy to replace it. Also very doubtful the batter works after expanding issues very well. So these stories about "apple wont replace it" doesn't fit very well with battery issues.

according to this picture
DIsaXjsiLvlOTMRx.medium

There doesn't appear to be much batter top-side from the volume buttons which appears to be the axel of bending in all of these stories. So i doubt an expanded battery can do that much damage.

i mean come on people. Things don't just bend...
 
previous iphone cases had plastic or glass backs, not aluminium, less prone to bending.

My friend's iPod touch battery expanded, the whole of the back of the case came off, Apple replaced it free of charge for him (it was out of warranty).

The back of the case will bend at the weakest point, on the iPhone 5 that is by the volume buttons and mute switch.
 
fat jez said:
previous iphone cases had plastic or glass backs, not aluminium, less prone to bending.

My friend's iPod touch battery expanded, the whole of the back of the case came off, Apple replaced it free of charge for him (it was out of warranty).

The back of the case will bend at the weakest point, on the iPhone 5 that is by the volume buttons and mute switch.
Click to expand...

Im aware that batteries can go bad. For an iPhone 4/4s the glass would crack.

What i'm saying here is that IF it was a battery issue, i'm sure apple would be more than happy to fix it. Especially as once the batter begins to expand, it usually fails to hold charge/recharge/work at all. You can also see if the battery has gone bad.

What we're seeing here is that apple aren't replacing these.

I said things don't bend by themselves . Expanding battery is a good explanation. Dropping it and sitting on it are also good explanations. Also ones that aren't covered under warranty ;)
 
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but why would he create a new account over here just to tell us this story? What im trying to say is that if he bent it on purpose, there wouldnt be any good reason for writing it all on this forum explaning how it wasnt his fault.
 
paronga said:
*yawn*
sure that could be what happened. It's funny that all of a sudden this has started happening to iPhone 5 owners and not to 3g/3gs/4/4s owners.
Also, you'd be able to see if the battery expanded by a brief look inside/pulling it apart. So you'd think apple would be happy to replace it. Also very doubtful the batter works after expanding issues very well. So these stories about "apple wont replace it" doesn't fit very well with battery issues.

according to this picture
Image
There doesn't appear to be much batter top-side from the volume buttons which appears to be the axel of bending in all of these stories. So i doubt an expanded battery can do that much damage.

i mean come on people. Things don't just bend...
Click to expand...
If that battery is tight in there, got hot and expanded even the slightest bit, the volume button cut out is exactly where it would give. Seems very plausible to me.
 
Yo took my phone in today cause the screen separated and was loosing signal, they took a look at it and showed me how badly bent it was. I didn't notice because it laid flat when it was in the case. I don't recall ever stepping on the phone , or having it in my back pocket. Never has a phone broken before without me be able to identify the cause, even if I had to think about it. I walked out of the store thinking something must've just happened maybe I stepped on it and didn't know, but I looked up the issue online and there is a crack exactly where a lot of people with this issue have it. On the aluminum right next to the lower volume button. Phone has never been in my back pocket, and most of my pockets are pretty loose.
 
I've had my iPhone 5 since approximately 2 weeks following the release of the iPhone 6 and just a week and a half ago my screen started separating from the chassis and the chassis is cracked right at the volume down button. Now here's the history of my device it's a 2nd gen hand-me-down; my father purchased it on release day, passed it on to his wife at the release of the 5S, and then made sure it was passed on to me at the release of the 6 and 6 Plus. Now my father and his wife have never been ones to purchase protective cases for their apple products, because they take such good care of their phones, so much so that I received my device in the original box it came in with all of the original cords, cables, booklet, headphones and even the stickers, still sealed in their original packaging, and the phone itself in a clear dust cover bumper case that you can purchase for $5 from Apple.com. Now me I'm s bit on the clumsy side, I dropped my iPhone 4s the day I received it last year and broke the limited edition Steve jobs memorial glass my father had installed, so my first action upon receiving this new, to me anyways, phone was to purchase an otter box defender series and make sure it was properly installed. I achieved this goal simply enough and my phone remained in that case until a week and a half ago when I purchased a shatterproof screen protector for extra measure, lo and behold when I removed my phone from its case I was shocked to find it was bent the top right corner of my screen was separating from the chassis and there was a chip at the volume down button. Yes, I'll admit my phone has taken a few spills from tabletop to floor, but nothing to warrant the separation of screen and chassis and definitely nothing to cause the crack, screen side, next to the volume down button. I noticed though that my phone was hot, not warm, but actually hot, so much that it burned my hand, almost causing me to drop the phone, unprotected, on to the floor. I've since conversed with my father and he's unsure of the cause, but I'm beginning to believe that the otter box's insulation caused my phone to rapidly overheat, thus causing the aforementioned damages.
 
MykeMayhem said:
Yes, I'll admit my phone has taken a few spills from tabletop to floor, but nothing to warrant the separation of screen and chassis and definitely nothing to cause the crack, screen side, next to the volume down button.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it's probably just bad luck that it did land just the right way to damage it.
 
Being in an otter box is supposed to protect against any such damages from short falls and I would also like to notate that my bend and crack are in the same location as the images shown at the very beginning of this thread.
 
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IPhone 5 is weak and TC must go! Or something. Wait, a pickle! Spicy Pickle! With mayo and brownie!!! Move to cookies Colorado and eat east eat special brownies!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!
 
These are my separation photos. As you can see, the body of the iPhone is not bent at all. Placed next to straight edge for reference. Yes, I just joined, but photos don't lie.
 

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