Is your phone call provider signal non existent where you live or is there no sim in it? Hmmm.
PJ.
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Spontaneous separation of new iPhone 5
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Is your phone call provider signal non existent where you live or is there no sim in it? Hmmm.
PJ.
This couldn't have happened from being in a pocket. The compression/tension of the pocket around the phone would have caused the screen to bend or crack, not pop out.
Also, if the phone was bent over something to cause the bend in the frame, then again the screen would have cracked. Can't see the OP removing the screen deliberately first.....
Also, if the phone was bent over something to cause the bend in the frame, then again the screen would have cracked. Can't see the OP removing the screen deliberately first.....
Even though the OP said it was never in a pocket, I think this damage "could" occur to someone who put this phone in their back pocket. There are now several threads on the iPhone 5 bending so we know that this phone is not near as strong as the 4S.
We will see more and more of this the longer the 5 is out!
To the OP, well it looks like owner inflicted damage to me and I can not see Apple seeing different!
Actually, because that outward dent straddles the crease, that looks more like someone attempted to bend the metal back in the opposite direction (i.e. pushing the case and screen back together), creating an outward fold.
Something that small pushing out against the case to create a dent like that, at best, would've separated the phone lengthwise along that side, not bent the top third of the backing.
What interests me more is this tear point at the volume button. Say what you want about aluminum, but it would take a lot of force exerted on both sides of the bend to tear metal like that... kinda like putting the back against the edge of a hard surface and bending from both ends of the phone.
For a "spontaneous separation" to do that, there'd have to be an amazingly strong fastener holding the phone together at that point, and that point only.
iFixit and other teardowns didnt' seem to encounter that. In fact it seems the only fasteners that are strong enough on the iPhone 5 to maybe cause a bend are the screws at the bottom of the phone, at each side of the lightning connector. After you remove those, you get a clean separation with just a suction cup.
So... if something WERE pushing the phone apart from the inside, you'd probably see a smooth, clean separation with no clear bend. Something that looks like....
Bottom line: yes, it is possible to get an iPhone to push itself apart. It's usually older models with aging, failing batteries though, as the batteries are the only component in the phone capable of doing this. And even in those cases, it looks nothing like the OPs photos.
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Actually, it does; twice.
I thought only Applecare + covered that? Or do you only have Applecare + and not Applecare in the States/Canada?
We only get Applecare in Europe, no +
But how do you explain the fact that the strong force it takes to break the aluminium casing did cause any damage whatsoever to the front part of the phone which is just beside it? (if it is an external force it could not bend the casing without also bending the front part).
Just an observation based on 20 plus years experience in the aviation industry, metal has memory, and it does not always react to a stress at the time the stress was applied. I guess that was technically two observations.
An overhaul of a landing gear assembly typically follows the path of tearing the assembly down to the component level or lower, performing visual and dimensional inspections, non destructive testing, and rejecting any components that fail the inspection criteria.
My team will occasionally have to do a tear down on a landing gear that was involved in an incident, for example a hard landing. When a hard landing occurs the components in the landing gear assembly may be subjected to stresses they were not designed for. The effects of these stresses are not always immediate, in other words the metal can essentially store the energy of the stress, only to release it at a latter time. To deal with this we may need to quarantine certain components for a period of time, usually 6 months or more. We then compare the pre quarantine visual, dimensional and NDT findings to the post quarantine findings and look for variance. Typically we do not find a variance, but occasionally a component that was within tolerance pre quarantine will be out of tolerance post quarantine
So it is conceivable that the bending is related due to stresses imposed in the body, but not the face plate, during manufacture. I'm not saying this is what happened, only that its a possibility.
An overhaul of a landing gear assembly typically follows the path of tearing the assembly down to the component level or lower, performing visual and dimensional inspections, non destructive testing, and rejecting any components that fail the inspection criteria.
My team will occasionally have to do a tear down on a landing gear that was involved in an incident, for example a hard landing. When a hard landing occurs the components in the landing gear assembly may be subjected to stresses they were not designed for. The effects of these stresses are not always immediate, in other words the metal can essentially store the energy of the stress, only to release it at a latter time. To deal with this we may need to quarantine certain components for a period of time, usually 6 months or more. We then compare the pre quarantine visual, dimensional and NDT findings to the post quarantine findings and look for variance. Typically we do not find a variance, but occasionally a component that was within tolerance pre quarantine will be out of tolerance post quarantine
So it is conceivable that the bending is related due to stresses imposed in the body, but not the face plate, during manufacture. I'm not saying this is what happened, only that its a possibility.
I thought only Applecare + covered that? Or do you only have Applecare + and not Applecare in the States/Canada?
We only get Applecare in Europe, no +
For the OP to claim that he had AppleCare, so the replacement will cost $50, means that he has AC+ and just misspoke. AC doesn't cover accidental damage, which we can all pretty much see and agree that this is (despite the OP's claims).
Yes, BTW, we do have AC+ here in N.A.
Cheers,
Will
The same way you explain why the glass didn't break from something pushing from INSIDE. If an internal part sponateously bent this phone, it had to exert equal force on both the glass and casing. So why didn't the glass break, from either scenario?
One possible explanation...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4vvQq7BpiE
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So it's taken up to 6 months in some cases. Did the metal just bend itself six months later at a very rapid clip? The OP mentions literally feeling the metal bend itself in his hand, which I would assume occurred very suddenly and somewhat rapidly. Have you ever seen anything like that?
I know the cause
I believe you, and I guess about the possible cause of this damage - THE MICROCRACKS.
The microcracks are invisible without a microscope, so you couldn't see them earlier -
when buying or using for the first few days.
The item with microcracks could came apart (fully or partially) AT EVERY MOMENT.
I believe you, and I guess about the possible cause of this damage - THE MICROCRACKS.
The microcracks are invisible without a microscope, so you couldn't see them earlier -
when buying or using for the first few days.
The item with microcracks could came apart (fully or partially) AT EVERY MOMENT.
There are definitely plausible motives.
• Notoriety and attention from blogs.
• Ability to claim a manufacturer's defect so that you can save $50 and keep your two damage replacement incidents.
• Buyer's remorse. You could've accidentally damaged the phone and now instead of a replacement, you want a full refund by claiming manufacturer's defect. You're making a case that all iPhone 5s have this "weakest point," so clearly no iPhone 5 made will solve this "problem" for you. You said it yourself...
Sounds to me like it's really not a good idea to just get a replacement iPhone 5, since you can just beam negative thoughts at these things and they'll just fold like paper, right?
No, but you could get blogs to pick up your story, thus setting bad publicity for Apple and getting the attention of higher ups who might throw you a bone to keep you quiet.
Yeah, about that photo... I'd like to see whole back plate. Including the other edge of the phone. Clearly the whole end of the phone bent backwards, so why can't we see the crease at the other edge?
Well if the force comes from the inside it will push the aluminium and the glass towards opposite directions, so basically it will only bend (or break) whichever one is the weakest and not do anything to the other one. If it comes from the outside it will push them towards the same direction (unless you manage to hold each piece separately and tear them apart, which seems tricky here); so as long as the strongest material can take the pressure the other one is not damaged either, and as soon as the pressure is too strong both will break or bend at the same time.
Anyway ... I guess no one here is a structural engineer so we can only guess with the limited data and knowledge we have.
You're right that it'll assert its force on the weakest point, but that's neither the aluminum nor the glass. It's the seam BETWEEN the two that's the weakest, and should be the first to give, resulting in a clean separation of the two pieces.
Or we can use Occam's razor. While we've seen other bent iPhone 5s, they either come that way out of the box due to shipping damage or poor QC (who knows which?), or they get bent due to accidental damage. This is the only case where the user claims the metal just "bent itself" suddenly, and rapidly enough that he could feel it happening as he was holding it in his hand. Something's amiss here.
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According to the principle, a simpler but less correct theory should not be preferred over a more complex but more correct one.
the only thing i can think of is the battery becoming extremely hot, failing and expanding rapidly vertically, forcing the frame to bend away like shown. this would leave the screen untouched. i hope this phone gets checked out by stress engineers before apple squirrels it away, never to tell it's story.
Has the OP provided any pics with a torch shone inside the open gap so we can get a good look at what has pushed it apart?
Shouldnt be hard to get the shot. Angle a light source directly into the gap and then set a camera to macro mode and snap away.
If it was battery related then the battery should show signs of damage.
Shouldnt be hard to get the shot. Angle a light source directly into the gap and then set a camera to macro mode and snap away.
If it was battery related then the battery should show signs of damage.
I'll take my guess too. It looks like someone sat on it with the phone in their back pocket (not smart). This bent and cracked the frame at the weakest point (the cutout for the volume button).
The Gorilla glass and plastic frame will just bend and then pop loose of the bent aluminum at a certain point. At least that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
This is exactly what I think happened. The phone is not going to bend unless you do something stupid like sitting down with it in your back pocket. The cutout for the vollumne button is the weakest point in the frame, hence the crack there. The glass could easily bend and not break. There is absolutely no way this could happen spontaneously.
Yup, we aren't being provided with enough information. The battery would look like hell if it had failed. I just don't see the memory affect occurring with this much force.
Fair point that is also a strong possibility... though I still find the fact that the glass is not damage a bit strange.
I'll personally reserve my opinion for now, and see if other cases show up - but anyway I doubt it would become a widespread issue.
One thing is for sure though, spontaneously or not the phone a bit too easy to bend.
The simple expanation is that both front face ends of the phone were pushed down while the middle back was held in place. Which could happen if the phone was in your back pocket with the display facing outward. The frame failed at the weakest point (where the volume cut out is). Why didn't the glass break? Gorilla glass bends easily without breaking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4j4wqA2Mko Why couldn't the battery have caused the necessary forces to bend the phone? Because the force would have been internal and would have simply popped the glass out of the frame without causing both ends of the aluminum frame to bend downward.
With 5 million phones in the first three days, flaws get seen real fast compare to other phones that take months for that many people to be examining them.