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Cracks 'appearing' in new iPhone 3Gs

by Robert Palmer Jul 30th 2008 at 4:00PM

Let's be honest here for a second. Cracks don't appear. Cracks don't form. They don't develop. Your iPhone 3G cracked because you dropped it. 'Fess up! It's not a manufacturing defect if your phone takes a tumble down a flight of stairs. This is why we can't have nice things.

Just kidding. Apple could have has another iPod nano or G4 Cube problem on its hands: careful users are seeing cracks and fissures on their new iPhone 3Gs. MacRumors has a thread about new, white iPhone 3Gs (which haven't been "dropped or pressed") that are beginning to show hairline cracks around the edges and near the buttons and headphone jack.

Reasonably, though, if you treat it like a phone, and use it every day, it's going to get worn. That's when cracks, scuffs, and abrasions happen. When you have a white finish on your iPhone, dirt will inevitably get in there, and even the most minute scratch will show up. Every phone I've ever owned I've dropped at some point, and it gets a scuff, or a scratch or a crack.

There are plenty of options to protect your sweetness, though: For example, there are all kinds of hard-shell cases you can buy. ZAGG's excellent invisibleSHIELD product is certainly durable, and could prevent dirt from getting into any fissures that appear on your iPhone's back cover. You can also wait a little while for the Golden Shellback, a vacuum-applied polymer that waterproofs any device, inside and out. Nifty.

Update: Commenters are literally pouring in to tell us that as careful as they've been with their iPhone 3Gs, even the most babyed devices are showing cracks. Joel Renda says, "The problem is not the plastic, but that the metal frame is too small for the plastic to lock on without causing the stress fractures." It's pretty clear Apple has a manufacturing defect on its hands.

For those with cracks, taking it back to the Apple Store (or possibly the mobile phone retailer where you made your original purchase) is your only recourse. Several people have noted here and elsewhere that they've successfully had their handset replaced after a careful inspection.



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Let's be honest here for a second. Cracks don't appear. Cracks don't form. They don't develop. Your iPhone 3G cracked because you dropped...
 

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Sam

I am so not buying an iPhone anymore.

September 22 2008 at 8:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mrs. G

My white macbook "developed" hairline cracks too. I'm sure I never dropped it.

August 12 2008 at 6:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John Faughnan

I just returned mine for a replacement. Two cracks. No abuse. An Apple staffer told me

August 07 2008 at 10:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zach Bass

I also had a crack. In fact it's the biggest I've seen to date. Here my blog post with pictures:

http://www.zacharybass.com/2008/08/3g-iphone-case-cracked-in-under-24-hours-back-to-the-apple-store.html

-zach

August 03 2008 at 3:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Peter

the back case of the iPhone 3G is probably made of Zirconia. One of the properties of the material is that it shrinks when it's getting hot.
That maybe the solution of the cracks in the iPhone 3G's. We looked at the photo's on macrumors.com and it looks that the haircracks only
appear in places where there are holes (camera, headphone input) in the ceramic Zirconia back of the iPhone. So that maybe the solution of the cracks.
Zirconia is also called keramic steel in the industry.

We made a story about it on our blog: www.iphonenieuwsblog.nl

July 31 2008 at 7:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
CZ

Oh, and let me point out something that I don't buy:

"The problem is not the plastic, but that the metal frame is too small for the plastic to lock on without causing the stress fractures."

Bullshit. This isn't mere "plastic" -- It's a polycarbonate. It's very impact-resistant. It's a polymer that is used in things that are designed to be shatter-resistant, like airplane parts, eyeglasses, and sporting equipment.

It doesn't just develop stress fractures from being "too tight" -- I sell polycarbonate lenses every day, and I have yet to see one just spontaneously crack from the stress of its mounting, even when the mounting is too tight. The poly lenses I sell are often thinner and less durable than the kind used on the iPhone, so I just cannot believe that a tight casing would cause "stress fractures" in it.

Polycarbonate cracks when it absorbs an impact (which is what it's designed to do, rather than shattering).

The only way this is a defect is if Apple is using a low-quality polycarbonate product which suffered some sort of chemical breakdown before being molded. While I'll admit that's a remote possibility, I think it's also pretty unlikely considering the kind of R&D Apple puts into their products.

I still call B.S. on this, and think it's a wave of recently-dropped iPhones with users who want something for nothing. Sorry.

I could be wrong, but as I make my living dealing with this polymer and touting its durability, I think I'm on solid ground when I say I don't believe you.

July 31 2008 at 3:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to CZ's comment
Dave

Well, you're wrong; whatever your self-proclaimed expertise with polymers is. My iPhone has never been dropped, never sat on, etc, etc, and yet it somehow has gotten cracked, and not from mishandling.

You wanna call me a liar, fine; it just proves what a closed minded idiot you are.

July 31 2008 at 7:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jordan

If you mean that you sell eyeglasses, I'm not sure I'd want to have my eyes looked at by a guy with the word Corpse in his username, LOL! Or do you work at Sunglass Hut?

At any rate, ZeroCorpse, you are dead wrong. Think about this carefully. If we were dropping their iPhones, and taking them to Apple to be replaced, why would we be insisting on blogs that there was a QC issue with it? I mean, I know if I was a liar and I had dropped my phone and returned it to Apple, I would not be broadcasting it to the world in blog comments. There is no incentive to lie on the blogs. These people are behind anonymity. They could just as easily say "I returned my phone to Apple after I dropped and cracked it and they bought it hook, line and sinker!" with zero consequence. But they are not saying that. They are trying to raise concerns about a legitimate problem that has affected them. I know, because I am one of them.

I am not "that guy" that takes everything back for no reason, worrying about tiny issues, but mine had a crack in it. Right after I bought it. I never even sat the darn thing down on a hard surface much less dropped it onto one. I treated it with kid gloves much like many other users are saying, including the editors at Engadget themselves who had a broken one.

You are dead wrong. Move along.

August 16 2008 at 10:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kaykhanittha

Yes, really annoying !
http://www.iphone-3g-mobile.com/APPLE-IPHONE/WHITE-APPLE-IPHONE-PROBLEMS-AND-CRACKS-ARE-ANNOYING

July 31 2008 at 11:46 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
emilm

Same here. 16 GB black with a 6-7 millimeter crack from the headphone jack and down to the right. Not acceptable! Also, the volume button is to recessed (the middle lower part of the button is under the edge of the black plastic), making it difficult to press. Never dropped it and kept it in a leather case.

July 31 2008 at 11:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rafalski

Repeat after me, chorus booing: reee-call, reee-call...

July 31 2008 at 9:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dan

Yeah, I'm going through the same mess -- treating this thing with kid gloves and it's still got cracks in the shell.

http://www.danbailey.net/176/review-iphone-3g

July 31 2008 at 8:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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