[oasismark]

Discovered this other day, the plastic back of my iphone has cracked right down the middle at the bottom, where the USB cable connects!

Im assuming apple will swap this no problem, but its a future worry as the plastic back doesnt seam as sturdy as the metal back of the original iphone.

I'll try getting a pic uploaded tomorrow.

[danwalton]

engadget are running a story on this right now...

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by danwalton

engadget are running a story on this right now...

Here's the link. Has some piccies on there too - certainly a worrying trend...

Maybe Apple should have stuck with the metal back covers.

[oasismark]

Just looked at those pics and mine is much worse.

Mine is actually split about 1 cm, and i can pull it apart!

Mine is black BTW.

Should i go to O2 shop or Apple store?

[cooey]

**Runs off to check iPhone**

EDIT: Phew, mine is OK..... at the moment!

[SeedyR]

Originally Posted by oasismark

Just looked at those pics and mine is much worse.

Mine is actually split about 1 cm, and i can pull it apart!

Mine is black BTW.

Should i go to O2 shop or Apple store?

Probably worth ringing both to what the situation is, and who actually has stock. My mate had a problem with his iPhone, and the o2 store were very good about it.

[bellso]

Noticed a tiny crack in my white version last night. Top right corner looking from the back. Only small, but a little worrying as only had 10 days!

Gonna look at cases at lunch time, but dont want anything that will add a lot of bulk to it!

If anymore show it will be going back to Apple!

[daveb975]

The one thing that Apple don't seem to be able to get right is the back covers for their products.

The current iPod range with it's mirror back tends to look about 5 years old after you have had it a week as it is impossible to keep scratch free.

My 3G iPhone is not showing these cracks (yet), but already has a number of scratches on the back panel, despite the fact I have hardly used it.

Most of my other gadgets look perfect after a few years of ownership, but not these ones!

[fayraz]

Just looked at my black iPhone and I have a very small crack where the headphone socket is located.

Very similar to this:

This picture is taken from another forum.

[C225]

Originally Posted by fayraz

Just looked at my black iPhone and I have a very small crack where the headphone socket is located.

Very similar to this:

This picture is taken from another forum.

Mine has a crack the exact same as that. Not too worried about it unless it gets any worse.

[fayraz]

Originally Posted by C225

Mine has a crack the exact same as that. Not too worried about it unless it gets any worse.

Yeh same here, I have only plugged headphones in once. It is very thin round the socket.

[jamiedeluc]

OMG..I'm scared to use mine now, only had it a week.. Ive been reading threads on other forums and seems the problem is quite widespread, mainly on white models.. I hope Apple identify this as a fault, even though its cosmetic, people have paid a lot for these phones, and with an 18 month contract, you would hope the phone would stay in good condition for longer than a couple of weeks...... Hopefully they will recall and replace affected models, or people wont be happy

[oasismark]

That little crack is tiny, mine is about 2cm long!!!!

I went in apple shop yestarday at Meadowhall, Sheffield, they took a look at in then went in the back to check it through a microscope!!! (erm its 2cm big!), then cam back and said phone apple support and it will be investigated!

Whats to investigate!, its 3 weeks old, it has a dirty great big crack in the back.

It hsn't beed dropped, i look after my gadgets!

I can tell they think its my fault.

I thought apple had great customer support, and they would just swap it there and then.

Not called the number yet, will update later, and try getting a pic up loaded.


UPDATE

Called the phone line, and they were exactly the same...


Conversation:

apple: Where do you keep your iphone?

me: In my back pocket

apple: have you sat on the phone?

me: with it being in my back pocket then yes i have.

apple: that will be the cause of the problem then.


So there you go, apple has not designed the iPhone to be kept in your pocket!!!

They want me to go back to the apple shop!!!, (where i went yesterday, and who told me to call the number) and they will send it off for examination, where i'm sure they will tell me it was my fault for keeping my mobile phone in my pocket, and charge me a stupid amount to fix it.

NOT HAPPY

[davemulheran]

to be honest and no offence intended, you're a bit of a div ringing up to complain about a crack in your iphone and telling them that you keep it in your back pocket and that you sat ON it!

I would never do that! (sit on it or tell the support line that fact!)

[oasismark]

Originally Posted by davemulheran

to be honest and no offence intended, you're a bit of a div ringing up to complain about a crack in your iphone and telling them that you keep it in your back pocket and that you sat ON it!

I would never do that! (sit on it or tell the support line that fact!)

So the conversation would go:


apple: Where do you keep your iphone?

me: I hold it in my hand

apple: have you sat on the phone?

me: no it's constantly in my hands, even when i'm driving, and playing football etc.

apple: good cos we didn't think people would put a mobile phone in their pockets at all!

[bellso]

I'd never put it in my back pocket - even if you are a waif, i'm sure the phone isn't designed to take the pressure of being sat on!

What's wrong with you front leg pockets - where mine lives. Less chance of getting nicked too!

[oasismark]

Originally Posted by bellso

I'd never put it in my back pocket - even if you are a waif, i'm sure the phone isn't designed to take the pressure of being sat on!

What's wrong with you front leg pockets - where mine lives. Less chance of getting nicked too!

Where i put the phone isnt the debate here, if it was should apple put a big red sticker on the box saying...

DO NOT PLACE IN BACK POCKET!

My old 2G iphone was in my back pocket also and it never suffered this.

[C225]

To be honest you must have expected that response after you said you sat on it. I dont think they designed it for that.

Go back to a different store(if you can) as reading other forums it seems to be hit and miss as to whether they will replace it or not.

[dtobin]

Originally Posted by oasismark

Where i put the phone isnt the debate here, if it was should apple put a big red sticker on the box saying...

DO NOT PLACE IN BACK POCKET!

I don't think there's anything wrong with putting it in your back pocket...but sitting on it???????

You're just asking for cracks to the case or screen.

Apple don't warn you not to leave your phone on a train track either but I think it's pretty obvious what would happen if you did!

[oasismark]

Originally Posted by C225

To be honest you must have expected that response after you said you sat on it. I dont think they designed it for that.

Go back to a different store(if you can) as reading other forums it seems to be hit and miss as to whether they will replace it or not.

have you seen others with same prob?

[C225]

Originally Posted by oasismark

have you seen others with same prob?

Yep it is all over macrumours and the apple discussion forums. It seems to be quite a widespread problem slightly affecting the white more than the black. Someone in another forum has gone through seven phones so far between this problem and dust under the screen

To be honest i doubt if i would of noticed the crack in mine if i had not gone looking for it so i'm just going to live with it assuming it doesnt not get worse.

[oasismark]

Originally Posted by C225

Yep it is all over macrumours and the apple discussion forums. It seems to be quite a widespread problem slightly affecting the white more than the black. Someone in another forum has gone through seven phones so far between this problem and dust under the screen

To be honest i doubt if i would of noticed the crack in mine if i had not gone looking for it so i'm just going to live with it assuming it doesnt not get worse.

No this is different, ive seen the hairline cracks on the white iphone, this is a 2cm split at the bottom, it goes from the dock opening, up to the letter C on the back, and i can pull it apart!

[gastroboy]

Dude, Apple never said the phone was ass proof...put it in your front pocket and radiate your balls like the rest of us....

anyway, good luck in getting a replacement.

[davemulheran]

Originally Posted by oasismark

So the conversation would go:


apple: Where do you keep your iphone?

me: I hold it in my hand

apple: have you sat on the phone?

me: no it's constantly in my hands, even when i'm driving, and playing football etc.

apple: good cos we didn't think people would put a mobile phone in their pockets at all!

pockets YES

but not in your BACK pocket and then SIT on it!!!

and admit that to Apple when trying to claim a new phone for a slightly cracked casing!!!

I dont even put my wallet in my back pocket and sit on it.. let alone a £400+ piece of equipment!!!!

[landwomble]

don't think you've done yourself any favours with that revelation, particularly if you said that *after* they made a note of your serial number. take it back to the retail shop you got it from, say you've never applied firm pressure to it, and go in with some printouts from the millions of posts about this issue. be polite but firm and i'm pretty sure you'll come out with a new one.
bear in mind under the SOGA your contract is with the retailer, not the manufacturer. retailers love to palm you off on the manufacturer as it's less hassle for them, but you are within your rights to insist carphone warehouse or whoever sorts it for you.

[robinthakur]

I joked only the other day that iPhone 3G's are cracking because fat Americans are putting them in their back pockets and sitting on them. Little did I know anyone would actually be dumb enough to do that for real, let alone admit to it. I reckon this must be a wind-up.

Some other VERY obvious things you really shouldn't do with a highly polished plastic backed, glass-screened, super-slim £400 gadget

• Keep it in the same pocket as Keys
• Keep it in the same pocket as coins
• Keep it in the same pocket as anything which might conceivably scratch it
• Keep it in your back pocket (as there's always a chance you might accidentally sit on it.)
• Use it in the rain

The fact you are surprised that a plastic device cracks when you sit on it says it all really. Apple do not warranty their stuff against idiocy and I believe all devices do warn you not to place undue pressure on them, not just the iPhone. If you do still need to get it swapped out and need to give a reason, as other people have noted, just try and feign ignorance, as this shouldn't be too hard!

R
T

[landwomble]

Originally Posted by robinthakur

I joked only the other day that iPhone 3G's are cracking because fat Americans are putting them in their back pockets and sitting on them. Little did I know anyone would actually be dumb enough to do that for real, let alone admit to it. I reckon this must be a wind-up.

hang on a minute. whilst i accept that there's obvious limits to what you can get away with for hardware like this, i've always put my phones in my pocket. I've sat down with them there as well. I'm not advocating squashing the things but a phone implies a certain level of robustness - which is bourne out by me never having broken one through abuse or by gently sitting on them.
apple QC isn't great at the moment: my macbook displayed similar manufacturing faults as evidenced by millions of people with similar cracks and apple fixing it out of warranty, my macbook pro contains an nvidia GPU which is almost certainly one of the faulty ones nvidia have just admitted to: it seems to be that style's been allowed to dominate over safe manufacturing tolerances.

there are many, many posts of hairline cracks appearing on 3g iphones and I really don't think they're all down to abuse.

[robinthakur]

Why does a device manufactured with a glass screen and plastic back imply a certain level of robustness? I think you're the one implying it there. To me it seems inherently fragile...Do you think you should be able to stand on it also? I remember well that I broke the screen on my old Sony Ericsson p910 by famously sitting on it while it was accidentally in my back pocket. That was the first time and the last time I ever did that and it was a mistake, not something I would expect the phone to put up with on a daily basis i.e. supporting the weight of an adult pushing down a keypad on an LCD display and delicate electronics in a plastic shell. Front pocket fine. Back pocket, clearly asking for a broken phone...and most reasonable people would realise that. This is especially true if you sit down on a hard surface. A degree of common sense is useful here.

I think the level of hysteria about this problem is spreading through the net a bit out of control. Here you have a person who has admitted causing the damage themselves by SITTING on it. This only came out after they mentioned what they said to Apple over the phone, initially he only said that it had a 2cm crack in it, remember. I doubt that all cases are down to thick-user syndrome but I suspect a substantial amount of them are. Its back is made of plastic, its not going to behave just like the metal one, obviously because generally as most children could tell you, metal is much stronger then plastic.

I have owned iPods, Powerbooks, Macbooks and iPhones and never had a problem with build quaility apart from the Powerbook where the fan failed. When you say overly dramatic things like:

"as evidenced by millions of people with similar cracks and apple fixing it out of warranty, my macbook pro contains an nvidia GPU which is almost certainly one of the faulty ones nvidia have just admitted to"

It hardly helps your cause because its anecdotal at best. How many 'millions' of people were demonstrably effected by this? In the context of how many sold in total? Lots of machines contain Nvidia's faulty chips and its hardly anything to do with Apple, its Nvidia's screwup! If there is a proven fault you will no doubt get it fixed or swapped for free, as one of the great things about Apple are their customer service in my experience.

I've got a white 16GB white iPhone and the reason cracks are more common in my opinion is that cracks and dirt show up more. I will keep my eyes peeled for cracks on mine and hope I don't have to eat humble pie

R
T

[roaster]

Apple has got an issue here, but it's probably affected less than one in a thousand. They are often replacing iPhones that have the problem.

I'm sure there will be some changes made to the plastic on the inside of the case to spread the load at the key stress points, so squashing the phone doesn't crack it so easily. But changes won't be ready for a week or three.

If you tell them you sat on it, it's difficult for them to replace it, because it sets a precedent of free accident insurance. And the bigger the crack, the more unreasonable it is to claim it just happened on its own.

Don't sit on it! If it gets a crack, take it in pronto, before the crack grows too far (cracks always grow because all the stress concentrates on the end point.)

[hutch]

Closing as we dont seem to be going anywhere, if the OP wishes me to reopen please drop me a PM.