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Uhh yah, how about the multimillion dollar R&D Apple conducts, as well as paying the salary of many of its employees involved with making the software and hardware designs? That $175 only includes parts cost as well as manufacturing costs (not even software) - a small fraction of the total engineering costs involved. All that cost has to be recouped somehow, plus have high enough rate of returns.

There definitely is a design flaw in either hardware/software for the home button issue (nobody can say 100% which), but its more of a quality control issue (if its hardware) in a mass manufactured phone.

Yeah, never mind the obscene net profits Apple makes even after paying everyone. Apple's total net cost: $176. The problem here is that we are getting cheap phone parts while still paying $800 for it.
 
Same here, I finally had enough of the home button issue and called Apple today. Should have a new iPhone tomorrow via advanced exchange. No charge, covered under the standard 1 year warranty.

You know what is weird?? Apple doesn't offer advanced exchange if you are under their standard warranty. They "offer it to you" if you are willing to pay $29 for it. The $29 is waivered if you have the AppleCare extension warranty, which I didn't have yet.

I had to ask my customer support rep, which was very helpful and courteous a couple times to make sure I am not paying a single cent (knowing that policy in the back of head). He said yes, no charge. However, when he was processing the replacement, he put me on hold for like 15 minutes...perhaps he had to get his supervisor to waive the fee. Which means Apple knows of this issue....
 
You know what is weird?? Apple doesn't offer advanced exchange if you are under their standard warranty. They "offer it to you" if you are willing to pay $29 for it. The $29 is waivered if you have the AppleCare extension warranty, which I didn't have yet.

I had to ask my customer support rep, which was very helpful and courteous a couple times to make sure I am not paying a single cent (knowing that policy in the back of head). He said yes, no charge. However, when he was processing the replacement, he put me on hold for like 15 minutes...perhaps he had to get his supervisor to waive the fee. Which means Apple knows of this issue....

Yeah when I called I was expecting it to at least cost me $29 since I don't have phone support, or extended Applecare. But the guy I talked to, who was really cool, waived the $29 because it was a covered warranty/hardware issue.

The only thing I had to do was give a CC number just in case I wouldn't send my old phone back. But yeah he did verify that there is no charge for the advance replacement. I'd recommend anybody having the home button issue get their phone replaced, mine just kept getting progressively worse over the past couple months. Even if you're selling yours when the new one comes out at least you've got one that the home button works on to sell.
 
What a terrible experience so far:

1) Apple shipped my replacement phone to the wrong address even after I confirmed my address with the representative. Took about an hour on the phone to correct the issue
2) I was charged $30 for the advanced exchange service...even though Apple assured me I would not be charged and that it was covered under warranty. The kind representative apologized and credited me back the charge
3) The "replacement" iPhone that I received is all scratched and banged up....Waiting for a reply from Apple.
 
I had an issue today with my phone that has never happened before. I was listening to music in my car and I wanted my multitasking tray so I double clicked the home button (nothing happened) double clicked again (nothing) tapped the screen (to see if my phone froze... Music was still playing) Then I pressed the home button once and it finally went back to the home screen.

This has never happened before (not even in my original iPhone 4).

Since this was a whacky one off incident, I'm gonna call it a software bug. I think the phone just glitched out on me and wasn't responding.

A weird thing happened when trying to answer a call once too. It wouldn't let me slide the slider for a few seconds. It eventually worked, but it was weird. I think the iPhone somehow ran out of memory.

In my previous iPhone, the home button acted up even after a fresh restart or restore.

Thoughts?
 
What a terrible experience so far:

1) Apple shipped my replacement phone to the wrong address even after I confirmed my address with the representative. Took about an hour on the phone to correct the issue
2) I was charged $30 for the advanced exchange service...even though Apple assured me I would not be charged and that it was covered under warranty. The kind representative apologized and credited me back the charge
3) The "replacement" iPhone that I received is all scratched and banged up....Waiting for a reply from Apple.

Wow, hope Apple gets everything straightened out for you. Got my replacement today as promised without any issues.
 
Seems like everyone here is calling in. Can I not go by the store, show them the problem, and walk out with a replacement?
 
Seems like everyone here is calling in. Can I not go by the store, show them the problem, and walk out with a replacement?

Sure you can, the closest Apple store is 50 miles away from me, so wasn't really an option.
 
Does anybody have this problem and hasn't jailbroken their iPhone?

Of the people with the problem, how many have jailbroken their iPhones?

I ask because I'm one of the people who responded in this thread months ago. I hadn't noticed the problem until after updating to 4.1 and then re-jailbreaking my iPhone. I took my iPhone back to Apple, got a replacement, jailbroke it, and then suddenly I began having the problem again about a month later. That seemed to confirm that it was faulty hardware.

However, several days ago I started fresh with 4.2.1 (i.e., I did not restore a backup after updating) and I haven't jailbroken my iPhone ... yet. Anyway, my point is that I haven't had the problem once since updating. Several people seemed to have the problem with 4.2.1, so I doubt Apple fixed anything on their end, and that makes me wonder if jailbreaking (or a jailbreak app like Activator) is the culprit.

Any thoughts?
 
My home button has a mind of its own. This is the only way I can describe it. Single clicks get interpreted as double clicks and vice-versa, about 50% of the time. It's like Bizarro World iPhone 4 home button.

Oh and it's running 4.3 beta 3. Definitely not jailbroken. ;-)
 
Of the people with the problem, how many have jailbroken their iPhones?

I ask because I'm one of the people who responded in this thread months ago. I hadn't noticed the problem until after updating to 4.1 and then re-jailbreaking my iPhone. I took my iPhone back to Apple, got a replacement, jailbroke it, and then suddenly I began having the problem again about a month later. That seemed to confirm that it was faulty hardware.

However, several days ago I started fresh with 4.2.1 (i.e., I did not restore a backup after updating) and I haven't jailbroken my iPhone ... yet. Anyway, my point is that I haven't had the problem once since updating. Several people seemed to have the problem with 4.2.1, so I doubt Apple fixed anything on their end, and that makes me wonder if jailbreaking (or a jailbreak app like Activator) is the culprit.

Any thoughts?

I was not jailbroken and have had the issues, I am now jb with the same issues.
 
I'm having this issue. I'm jailbroken on 4.2.1. It messes up the double and single clicks. Thankfully I hardly ever use multitasking so this isn't as big of a problem for me.
 
I was not jailbroken and have had the issues, I am now jb with the same issues.

Thanks. Well, then I'll assume the issue isn't jailbreaking.

I wonder why reinstalling the software seemingly fixed the problem for me ... and I wonder how long before I begin having problems again.
 
I'm having this issue. I'm jailbroken on 4.2.1. It messes up the double and single clicks. Thankfully I hardly ever use multitasking so this isn't as big of a problem for me.

It's a problem even if you never multitask, since a single click often brings up the switcher. In fact, for me that was the most common issue.
 
Pressure point affects if the button fail

I too am suffering from a temperamental home button. Now I believe a solution is found (for me at least):

If I click in the center of the button it register a double click, or no click almost every time. Last week I made the discovery that when I click on the button's edges, the phone always register single and double clicks correctly. By "the button's edges", I mean outside the painted square. Does this apply for anyone else?

Irrelevant note:
I am reluctant to get the phone replaced because I risk getting a refurbished phone. My current iPhone is my third iPhone 4. The prior ones had proximity sensor issues. Hopefully the phone forward on will function as it should.
 
I wish my home button were more sensitive actually. It clicks more like a 3GS than a 4 sometimes. I wish it were a little more clicky. It'd be way easier to doubletap.
 
I believe this is a software issue. I have 2 iPhone 4's on 4.0 and 1 iPhone 4 on 4.2.1

The one with the latest software is the only one having issues. I can sit there and pound on the other 2 home buttons all day and it works perfect.
 
I too am suffering from a temperamental home button. Now I believe a solution is found (for me at least):

If I click in the center of the button it register a double click, or no click almost every time. Last week I made the discovery that when I click on the button's edges, the phone always register single and double clicks correctly. By "the button's edges", I mean outside the painted square. Does this apply for anyone else?

Irrelevant note:
I am reluctant to get the phone replaced because I risk getting a refurbished phone. My current iPhone is my third iPhone 4. The prior ones had proximity sensor issues. Hopefully the phone forward on will function as it should.

Yeah that's the same way mine was working. As long as I clicked at one edge or the other it worked fine, if I clicked in the middle it had a mind of it's own. I finally had enough of it and got it replaced. I guess if for no other reason because I want a phone that works without any issues, whether I keep it, or sell it when the next iPhone comes out.
 
I too am suffering from a temperamental home button. Now I believe a solution is found (for me at least):

If I click in the center of the button it register a double click, or no click almost every time. Last week I made the discovery that when I click on the button's edges, the phone always register single and double clicks correctly. By "the button's edges", I mean outside the painted square. Does this apply for anyone else?

Irrelevant note:
I am reluctant to get the phone replaced because I risk getting a refurbished phone. My current iPhone is my third iPhone 4. The prior ones had proximity sensor issues. Hopefully the phone forward on will function as it should.

I just tried that. Granted it was just for a few times, but you have a point!!!! When I used the edges it seemed to work right (one click brought me to the home screen/search screen, two brought up the multi task bar). When I clicked the middle twice half the time it thought it was a single click. And sometimes took it as a double click.

I think judging by experimenting with pressing in the middle vs side that it seems the button is not sensitive enough in the middle or doesn't register clicks fast enough if you do it in the middle (I definitely feel it's a hardware thing, for some reason it acts more like hardware than software). It also feels more clicky on the sides than the middle (if you click in the middle it feels more "soft" rather than a sharp click).

And like you, I'm hesitant to see if I can get an exchange cause at least I know everything else on my phone works so I haven't bothered Apple about it. If this is a reliable way to get the button to work properly (cause it does annoy me), that's awesome!
 
Hardware fault

Two out of two confirm that the button works correctly when clicking on the edges. For us three at least, that means it definitely is a hardware issue. It would be clarifying if someone else could also could confirm this.
 
Okay, I restored to 4.2.1 a few weeks ago and my home button worked great up until yesterday. This is exactly what happened on 4.1.
If I restore fresh and I can't replicate the issue in store will I still be allowed a replacement?
 
The home button on my iphone 4 has never been as good as my 3GS or 3G. Its always had the problem of double clicking when I only press the button once. I took it to apple a month or so after I got it and of course it didn't go wrong for the Genius and he said it was fine and sent me away. Recently things have got much worse with missed clicks. Sometimes it can take up to 4 presses to exit an app, other times its fine. Yesterday I tried to double tap and about 4 goes in a row it kept only registering a single tap and moving between my home screen and the spotlight screen, back and forth, back and forth!

I am going to be near an apple store this weekend so I decided to make an appointment for this evening. The really annoying thing is my phone seems to be fine today when yesterday was a real nightmare! I bet it won't play up for the genius again. If it happens to have fixed itself then thats fine, I'll keep it, but I've had it since launch day so the chances of it suddenly getting better the day I take it to the Genius are surely quite slim. I just hope it rears its ugly head for the Genius, or he believes my description of the problem as I don't live near an apple store normally so it would be difficult to take it in again if/when it starts happening again
 
So I finally broke down and took my phone into an Apple store today for this problem. I got tired of having the button only work right some of the time. The genius as the store did not even try to make me duplicate the issue. He said that it is a hardware problem, and is in fact a problem that they have had since the very first iphone. It is just that it is probably now noticed a lot more by people because of the double click functionality for the multitask bar.

He replaced it on the spot. No problems at all. And the even cooler thing. I had a powersupport screen shield on the front and back of my phone, and he took both those off my old one and put it on the "new" one for me perfectly. No dust or anything. :D

And yes, so far the button works perfectly on this unit. At least for now. :cool:
 
So I finally broke down and took my phone into an Apple store today for this problem. I got tired of having the button only work right some of the time. The genius as the store did not even try to make me duplicate the issue. He said that it is a hardware problem, and is in fact a problem that they have had since the very first iphone. It is just that it is probably now noticed a lot more by people because of the double click functionality for the multitask bar.

He replaced it on the spot. No problems at all. And the even cooler thing. I had a powersupport screen shield on the front and back of my phone, and he took both those off my old one and put it on the "new" one for me perfectly. No dust or anything. :D

And yes, so far the button works perfectly on this unit. At least for now. :cool:

So what he's saying is - it doesn't matter if you swap it out for a new phone or not, you're still going to have the same problem since it's a known issue from the first iPhone.
 
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