"The Top Phone in Top Damaged List"

[A-etius]

Read the swedish Newspaper DN (economics section) this morning about the iPhone 4G having a fragile screen. Thought you might want to hear what they said. I'll post a TLDR version and a long google translated version, fixed a few grammar fails, but probably missed some. Yes im swedish, but quite lazy ^^

TLDR:

• iPhone 4G is expensive but extremely fragile.
• 100 iPhones, in Sweden, are flooding into repairers every week.
• Almost exclusively due to glass cracking.
• Repairing costs about 218 dollars
• Since glass is on both front and back of the phone, that is bad
• Insurance company If (as in, If **** happens) says that iPhone 4s are alot more common than other phones on the market together to be damaged and brought to them.
• The Weak Link in iPhone 4 and its predecessor, iPhone 3G, is the screen.
• Apple representatives in Sweden have not responded to DN, blah blah.

I myself havent noticed any trouble now after 2 weeks of having the phone after my birthday. I keep it in a wallety case and no screen protection (since i use the case). Most is probably nonsense and just overreacting from the newspapers side, but i cant tell, havent really looked it up. How is the screen compared to old iPhones? But maybe more importantly, to other phones on the market?

Expensive but extremely fragile. Each week, hundreds of broken Iphone 4's are flooding to repairers every week - almost exclusively to the glass cracked. Getting a new glass will cost around 1,500 kronor (218 dollars). But beware, it can be difficult to get the damage replaced by a product insurance, according to a survey done by DN Economics.

So far, about twenty cases involving Iphone Mobiles settled in Consumer Complaints Board.

- The cases have mainly focused on screen-and moisture damage, "says Nils Sigfrid, lawyer for the ARN to DN Economics.

Camilla Bratt on Consumers Insurance Bureau is doubting the so-called insurance product offered when purchasing mobile phones.

- They certainly low or sometimes no deductible at all, but there are often problems to be compensated when you report an injury. There are an increasing number of notifications to the National Board for Consumer Complaints against several of these companies, "she says.

In addition, the policy applies only at the phone you buy - if it is damaged and you get a new one, you must take out new insurance, "says Camilla Bratt.

- You get more with a allrisktillägg("add-on" for your home insurance) in your home insurance. Then cover all your stuff and all members of the household.

The insurance company If (again, as in, If **** happens) receives several broken Iphone each week. According to Caroline Uliana, Press Officer, they have become more common as insurance cases than any other mobile phones together, even when traditional handsets on the market is incredibly much more common to buy.

The new Iphone 4 was launched last spring. In Sweden, the first copies sold in late July and today is the hotly sought-after model in the top of sales charts. But the smart phone climb even for injuries. The weak link in both its predecessor, iPhone 3, and the upgraded iPhone, 4 are glass. In addition, Iphone 4 glass on both front and back. An iPhone costs between 6000 and 8000 crowns(kronor).

The U.S. consumer electronics insurance company Square Trade has called over 20,000 accident-prone Iphone 4th The company's audit shows that during the first four months as the iPhone was used, are glass damage over 80 percent more than those suffered by its predecessor, the iPhone 3G.

Not even the special protection that are available and which will protect the glass has proven reliable, shows Squartrades report delivered in late October. Dirt and other debris from entering between the cover and the glass, causing scratches that may involve the glass to crack.

The major service providers, who sell the iPhone, say they have not been reached by "some alarming" loss reports. Maria Hillborg, press officer at Telia, says that they have not been provided any evidence to suggest that the new model would be particularly sensitive to damage the glass.

- If the customer files a complaint within two months after the fault has been detected, and within 6 months after purchase, we assume the error to be caused production faults etc. and we will resolve this in a way that is appropriate for that occasion which can be deducted, repair, new phone or similar, "she says .

DN Economics has made repeated attempts to reach a representative for Apple in Sweden, but without success.

Extra article speaks about a man who makes alot of money repairing phones, more recently iPhones.

 

[Tarzanman]

They should have used gorilla glass or really high quality, replaceable plastic.

...except apple doesnt like you replacing anything on their stuff.

 

[vachargerfan]

If you drop your laptop does the manufacturer replace it for free?

 

[Daveoc64]

The main problem with the iPhone 4's design from a repairability standpoint is that the front glass, the LCD and the digitizer (basically the touch sensor) are heavily integrated.

If you drop the phone and the screen breaks, you'll probably have to replace all three.

The older models had the three separated.

 

[PNutts]

If you drop your laptop does the manufacturer replace it for free?

Because the use cases are different I'm not sure what your analogy means.

 

[vachargerfan]

Because the use cases are different I'm not sure what your analogy means.

It means that people seem to me more careful with other electronic devices other then phones. For example, do you jump out of your chair with your laptop sitting on your lap? The answer is no. People complain about how fragile the iPhone is, but it isn't built to withstand abuse. If people stopped treating it like a 99 dollar flip phone, and more as a computer, there would be less iPhones being damaged

 

[Tarzanman]

Unlike a laptop, mobile phones are meant to be hand-held and carried around in a pocket or a purse or something.

This doesn't mean that they are made to be indestructible (like the water-proof, shock-proof, dust-proof Motorola Defy), but they should be made to handle shunts, bumps and the other wear & tear of everyday life.

There is probably a reason that in ~12 years of mass-producing cell phones (4 of those years being touch-screen phones) that no one had made one with the exterior being made completely out of glass.

Well, I guess now we know why. Because they will break.

Motorola Defy

 

[ItsJustafnPhone]

every other phone I owned had a plastic screen that was scratched to death. thank God for apple to have the idea to use glass. my naked iPhone is practically perfect and only has micro scratches visible under direct sunlight

apple can't help that people are clumsy