Filed under: iPhone
Cracks 'appearing' in new iPhone 3Gs
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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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Bassir said 4:06PM on 7-30-2008
Cool.
I still have a first generation iPhone. And I'm still happy. Happy as ever.
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Vince said 6:37PM on 7-30-2008
Good for you. NOBODY CARES. Get over yourself.
Bassir said 6:38PM on 7-30-2008
Okay?
Fred said 4:15PM on 7-30-2008
Hey, no offense but what's with all the Apple sucking up today? There's no way that someone should expect CRACKS to be showing up in their iPhones this soon after release. Same thing with the slowness issue on the 2.0 software. I mean good for you for reporting it, but it seems like you're kissing ass too.
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Robert Palmer said 4:23PM on 7-30-2008
So I'm somewhere between condemning Apple for having cracks appear, and kissing ass saying it's not Apple's fault? Good. I think that's about what I was shooting for.
Fred said 4:15PM on 7-30-2008
Hey, no offense but what's with all the Apple sucking up today? There's no way that someone should expect CRACKS to be showing up in their iPhones this soon after release. Same thing with the slowness issue on the 2.0 software. I mean good for you for reporting it, but it seems like you're kissing ass too.
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Vince said 6:49PM on 7-30-2008
I don't know why you're being voted down. You're 100% right.
damien said 4:21PM on 7-30-2008
Just so you know... I have a black 3G AND I have a crack by the headphone jack. I've kept my phone in a rubber case (incase) since day 1. What's up with that!?
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lolgamoff said 4:23PM on 7-30-2008
Don't even start acting like hairline cracks are standard on 3 week old phones. I haven't dropped my phone once, kept it in its own pocket, and treated it like my child since day one. And I have hairline cracks around the right edge. There is no excuse for crap like this to happen, especially so early in ownership.
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Neil said 4:24PM on 7-30-2008
Again TUAW shows its imbalance and true fanboy colours.
Is it really that hard for you guys to accept that Apple, like with its terrible Mighty Mouse and Mobile Me products, might have produced a bit of a stinker again?
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PhysicsGuy said 4:33PM on 7-30-2008
I have a crack! I have a 16 GB iPhone 3G, and I have been RIDICULOUSLY careful. I never dropped it or even scratched it. It's at the headphone jack. Is this something that's worthwhile trading in? Could it get bigger?
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PhysicsGuy said 4:48PM on 7-30-2008
Oh yeah, it's a black 16GB iPhone 3G!
Josh Jagdfeld said 4:36PM on 7-30-2008
My phone has been treated like an infant (that is well taken car of, mind you), and I have a series of cracks developing on the plastic around the camera lens on my iPhone 3G.
Way to take a tip submission and make it seem like it's cause I dropped my phone. Sheesh.
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Shoopuffman said 4:39PM on 7-30-2008
Look on the bright side... with the warranty, it's an opportunity to get a brand new iphone 3g... every 3 weeks!
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pureadrenalin2005 said 4:44PM on 7-30-2008
I got mine the day of the launch. I about 4 days later I picked up a Contour Flick case. I just removed the case and there isn't a single mark, scratch, or crack anywhere to be found on my 16GB white 3G
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Robert Palmer said 4:40PM on 7-30-2008
Lighten up, Francis. Occam's Razor: I'm more inclined to believe that you dropped your phone than that Apple has a widespread manufacturing defect. It's entirely possible that they do, AS I NOTE IN THE STORY, as it's happened before. If that's the case, AS I NOTE IN THE STORY, then it's a big deal.
For people with hairline cracks that haven't dropped their phones, take it back to the Apple store, or to the mobile phone retailer where you bought it. Explain the situation, and see if they can't provide a replacement. EVERYONE'S iPhone 3G is still under warranty.
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Fred said 5:15PM on 7-30-2008
If you were to apply Occam's Razor to this situation you'd get manufacturing defect. Apple has a history of these kinds of issues and it is more likely that there's a problem with the material than to believe that the people reporting the issue ALL dropped their phones.
Robert Palmer said 5:20PM on 7-30-2008
Fred: true, but consider this: Until everyone started pouring in this thread, I had only about three or four reports to go on. Four reports does not give me the confidence to assume that there's a manufacturing defect.
Now, however, with all these comments (and comments elsewhere), it seems pretty clear, I admit. I've updated the story to reflect that, and to try and give people an idea of what their recourse might be.
I appreciate your feedback, and thank you.
ZeroCorpse said 3:27PM on 7-31-2008
Yeah... Just like the previously-spread story "spontaneous" cracks in the MacBook? Everyone with a crack in their MacBook jumped on board and said, "Uh, yeah! My MacBook just developed cracks on its own, and I didn't do anything to cause them!"
I've had two MacBooks for a while now, and I've gotten NO cracks. I've watched the ones on display at Best Buy since they were put out, and they never get cracks despite heavy use by careless people.
I've spoken to Apple reps, and they say the cracks were not spontaneous or the result of a manufacturing problem, nor was the "stained" white surface of the MacBook. They were USER damage, and I believe it. I've hauled my current MacBook to work constantly, and use it all the time, and never once did I get a crack in it. The area around the trackpad does get stained, but you can CLEAN IT with alcohol and the stain goes away.
I'm inclined to believe that the iPhone cracks are not "spontaneous" or some manufacturing flaw, but that this portable, oft-used, oft-dropped device has a fleet of users who suspect they can get some sort of replacement if they start an Internet rumour that the iPhone has a faulty polycarbonate backing on it.
People drop their iPhone, then say, "Oh, well, I'll just blame it on Apple" and then others join in, believing that if enough of them repeat the same tune, that Apple will have to respond and give them a new iPhone so they can drop that one, too.
Sorry. I don't buy this "spontaneous" B.S. -- but then, my iPod touch has a metal backing on it, and it doesn't crack. I try not to drop it, though. Maybe that's the key to your electronics not developing "spontaneous" cracks-- Don't drop `em!
Until I see a crack develop right in front of my eyes, I'm inclined to believe that this crack problem is the same as the MacBook's B.S. crack problem.
Yes. I'm calling you all liars. Or at least ignorant.
DistortedLoop said 4:41PM on 7-30-2008
Gimme a break Robert Palmer! I should expect that my less than 3 week old iPhone, never dropped, never sat on, never abused should just start showing cracks on the presumption that they were there already and because I was dork who chose white I should have expected dirt to eventually highlight those cracks?
WTF are you smoking, Bob?
The cracks are real, reported by many, and are appearing around obvious stress points on the phone, such as the earphone jack, the control buttons, and rounded corners.
My White iPhone came out of the box, shrink-wrapped unopened box, with a little bubble in the white plastic, which when touched turned into a little dimple hole. Now, 18 days later, there is a crack by the mute button that was not there two weeks ago. I know it wasn't there because a friend had a defect in the same area, and I had to send here a picture of the phone to prove to her that it wasn't part of the design.
I suspect that excess heat (these things, like all Apple products) tend to get very warm.
I wonder if your advice to case these things up or wrap them in plastic will actually WORSEN the problem by causing additional heat build up.
At any rate, the tone of your article, and conclusions seem a bit condescending...
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