Analyst: Apple iPhone screen problems may get worse – the dreaded “dead strip”
By Will Park on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 5:44 PM PST In Apple, Devices, Research, Technologies, iPhone, iPhone OS
Just when we thought it couldn’t get worse (seriously, we thought it would stay an isolated and rare defect), Nomura International analyst, Richard Windsor released a note to clients indicating that the iPhone’s “dead strip” display problem could become more widespread.
Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) bought the rights to the screen technology used in the iPhone from a Finnish firm. Finnish firm reported that usage led to the same unresponsive display problems after some time. Apparently, 3 to 6 months of “extensive use” would start to degrade the technology and cause a lose of sensitivity to touch-inputs. This suggests that the relatively new iPhone fleet in the US could start to exhibit similar problems with time.
With technologies as advanced as multi-touch, and production volumes as large as they are, hardware faults could very reasonably start to crop up.
We’ll keep a close eye on this problem for you guys, but should you find yourself facing the dreaded “dead strip,” drop us a line and let us know. Seriously, we’d appreciate it.
Update
The iPhone does not use heat chemical deposition technology, nor does it detect inputs based on heat.
[Via: The Inquirer]
Three to six months of extensive use? That’s BULLSHIT. I got my brand-new iPhone out of the box THREE DAYS ago, and I’m already having the dead-strip problem. This sucks. Hopefully the warranty will cover a replacement.
Hi There
Well, back here in Norway i have the same iphone touch
problem, it startet 3 weeks ago ( 2 month old iphone )
first my camera didnt work, then my headphone mic didnt work and now my screen wont reply, i can restart the phone 3-4 times and it work for 1/2 hour, but then it starts again.. and its the hole sceen surface.
Since i`m in Norway and the phone hasn`t arrived here yet, i cant do anything about it.. I bought it in New York..
I hopet mabye some great Mac supporters from US could help me out ?
Mabye i can send it to you and take it from there ?
i pay for the inconvenience !
Regards
zachariassen@mac.com
Yeah same dead bottom half here. Made a call, 10 min later- tried to make another and could not “slide to unlock” Ran to the apple store in SF and they swapped it out ASAP no questions asked.
I may just unload this thing now- cannot have that happen again. Going back to Sony Erricsson…. Booooooooo apple!!
My iPhone has the same problem. Suddenly cannot unlock it because it isn’t sensitive any longer..
It happened after 1 month. I bought it in US but lives in Denmark, I hope there’s still some warranty!
I haven’t had the problem yet since I just got my phone two weeks ago. Although I live in Canada and have unlocked my phone for Rogers… I know I’ll have to do a factory restore to make it look fine but since I bought it through a reseller, will I have to get them to return it or could I just roll into a Seattle Apple store and they’ll just hand me a new one?
and advice would be greatly appreciated.
i have had my iphone for a couple months now and out today, out of nowhere, the top three quarters of my screen does not work. i tried it all, rebooting by holding both buttons, restoring phone to factory defaults, cleaning screen, nothing works. This is my fourth iphone (the first three all had internal problems) so im not suprised that something else broke.
Hey just realised today that mine 2 has a 2 dead strips 1 at the top just inbetween the words on the first line and the second row of icons and the entire row where settings atd calculator is. The major problem is that i have purchesed this phone from the us to the uk so what do i do? any help would be appreciated. email at dewhurst2007@hotmail.co.uk thanks.
Yep, mine died today. The strip with the clock, calculator notes and settings completely stopped working. Returned to Apple today and tech support will send a replacement.
Mine did two days ago. The bottom row doesn’t work. And as I live in Spain, I will have to wait until I go to EEUU again so they replace it. Damn.
Ok, I have found a workaround while I wait to be able to replace the phone. Here it is:
http://www.modmyifone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2345
It is not perfect, but it works better than before.
my screen just died today. the middle of it has a dead zone! F***! THIS SUCKS. IPNONE IS JUNK.
Yep me too … 5 weeks after buying it ..bottom couple of lines no longer works …great .. hate it anyway !
I bought mine in the beginning of July and this morning I noticed that the entire bottom row (not just the main menu but all screens) is completely non-responsive, and this is without warning! (no gradual loss of sensitivity, went straight from “works” to “doesn’t work”)
As others have noted, strangely, I can however slide to open the phone, although it is noticeably less sensitive.
I just bought one for my girlfriend for christmas and now I’m a bit weary
I’m heading to the apple store right after work.
my iphone’s bottom half inch of the screen wont work at all! it started jumping around before it stopped. for example when i touch a picture at the top, it jumps to a picture way down at the bottom. im going to my local iphone dealer now to get my phone working again!
my screen doesnt respond in its bottom part wich is phone , safari ,ipod also to unlock or to answer a call so basically its seems to be trash what shold i do ?
I have two strips dead now. Definitely I will have to take the phne to apple, for a replacement.
Did the dead strips develop simultaneously?
The Apple Store should take care of that, no problem. Good luck!
Top row on my iphone just went dead. I can’t type a url into safari, I’ll be taking the phone to apple tomorrow!
the weird thing for me is that just when I think this is happening to me, i turn the phone on and off and it’s fixed. i have also noticed that if the screen is wet or my fingers are wet, the touchscreen starts to be more unresponsive. I believe this is more of a software issue, then again it could be a hardware issue for some. I feel like I’m pretty lucky really – I bought my phone week two of release and have had NO major issues. I even discovered my phone was among ones with dimmly lit and spotty screens, but my screen is perfect. Luck of the draw I guess….
I have an iphone and it now has a deadstrip on the lower portion of the phone that is used to access my preferences and texting it is on the send button so I cant send texts etc… Very frustrating for such a cool product. I am also in Canada so Im double screwed. Its very annoying and although a huge apple fan I cant stand technology that does not work as it should.
Just got that dead strip problem too and I am pretty darn pissed. I bought it at ATT store so I am going to take it their first and if they dont do sh1t i will take it to apple. BLAH
Just got the dead strip problem across the bottom – Apple wants $29 to send me a new phone.
Well I have an issue with the touchscreen but it’s with burnt pixels. Across the top of my iPhone it is starting to “gray out” which tells me the pixels are burning out. It is gradually getting worse. I’ll take it back to the place I bought it and see if they will replace it. Apparently it “is” a known issue with a select few. And if they don’t give a new phone I will slam it on the ground and smash it into little peices, then go get a Nokia 95.
I have an 8 GB Iphone. Two months old. The “0″ buton on the dial pad and “i” on the safari will not work. The complete row with i on safari stops working sometimes. Not sure if apple will replace the unit. I have heard from someone that apple will replace only within 30 days. After 30 days of time frame they want to have a AT&T activation record to honour the warranty.
Any comments wil are welcome. not sure how to send that to apple. I am in Canada using the phone with Rogers (not the hardware unlock rather anysim unlocked) that can be virginized again.
Thanks
I am on my iPhone right now and I am pissed. Just as a few days ago I started having problems with the tough screen in the middle. Now I can’t text and scrolling stops in the middle. I see the send button fine but when I press It all it does is add a p or o to the line. All I did is mods but looks like I’m gonna reset it to factory specs and take it back cause I am a little mad since I bought it for 600$ in July. I’m bout to give them a piece of my mind today.
so the ATT store couldnt do anything at all. but they had me call in a number 1800-myiphone and they have a computer do a few trouble shooting steps. so i just said i did them and got to a person. told him the problem and told him ive already done a restore and then i began the repair process. 5 minutes and since i am getting a loaner iphone i had to give a credit card #. 30$ for the loaner and they hold the price of 400 on your account. i just recieved the loaner in less than 24 hours and now im sending mine in to get fixed or replaced. told it takes around 5 days. will tell more later.
So i just bought my iphone two days ago… unlocked it and yesterday… bang! the bottom part of my iphone stopped working… can I take it back to the store? or would they find out its been tampered with? I can’t access the settings or uninstall application to undo the unlock… what should I do?
This morning, I was unable to access my bottom row of the keyboard as well as my “Call” button. Needless to say, I PANICed.. Google’ed around, found this page. Read through your comments and it built my confidence that things would turn out OK.
Made my appointment, went in to the apple store at woodfield mall in illinois. What an experience. Made me proud to be a ‘mac guy’.
No questions asked, I had the 4GB version and they replaced it on the spot. Took about an hour, but it was a fun experience, and very informative.
I don’t know about those who have hacked the phone to use another carrier (which is a big overhaul of the firmware). I had a hacked iphone, (hacked 1.1.2, NOT anysim’ed, just hacked for apps and ssh/rails/apache..etc
AS LONG AS YOU DO A FULL RESTORE (meaning, brick it first so iTunes will fully reinstall it. I noticed that the first time I tried to restore it, some settings (such as the fake carrier name, and the battery meter mod) were still there! Oh NO, the mac genius is sure to see that! But low and behold, after bricking it accidentally while trying to get rid of the fakecarrier and battery meter mod, iTunes said it would have to reinstall.. I did so, and viola, no fake carrier text and no other “evidence” … to show I was a bad boy.
my phone is doing this…
If you have a dead strip in the middle and cant send texts or use your key pad you can hit return 3 times while typing your text message this will lower the send button past the dead area so you can send texts. As well if you go to ad new contacts to your phone you will be able to dial that number after you add the new contact getting around the dead strip area. these are not fixes but “ways around” the dead strip for people who have it in the middle of the phone and cant return it like me because I am in Canada and had it unlocked on the rogers network.
mine doesn’t have a ‘dead strip’ but the touch screen stops working a lot and the whole phone freezes at least once a day.
i had a different SIM in it and it was working fine for a month but now its been totally blocked.
i wish i hadnt bought this phone!
i bought my iphone on ebay and unlocked it when i thought it was safe and upgraded it when it was safe and everything was fine till one day i catch my youngest daugter with it (1 year old) who has an uncanny knack of sucking the life (literally) out of mobile phones i quickly took it off of her only to find a section of the screen not working i cursed apple for not making it dribble proof my dead strip is around 2 cm up from the bottom which is a real crap place for it to be and i cant take it back due to unlocking it if anyone has any ideas please mail me info@newlife-furniture.com cheers
martin
I have the same problem. the lower strip where the phone, mail, safari, ipod icons are is dead. wfunny thing is slide to unlock works fine.
I am not sure how I can fix this… Can anyone help please I am in Australia and there is no apple store here for me to take it to. Any help will be much appreciated. mail me at metell@gmail.com
Me 2 :~~( the last row in my iphone keyboard is not working
my bottom row of buttons is unresponsive. iPhone ‘unlock’ won’t work because the slider will not move. Can’t use phone, mail, web or ipod.
bleh.
going into the applestore today.
I am getting a mate to take the phone with him to an apple store, What do I need to do to make sure its verginised.
Apple replaced my phone on the spot. yay!
This is really, really, f(*&ing bad. I am in Malaysia on business and the godflipedfukshitbagfhad, dammit!, iPhone did that crap. I am surely screwed. Thanks Apple and AT&T. I am breaching my contract.
I purchased my iPhone the first days they were available and just today I am experiencing the “dead strip”. I cannot use any of the icons at the bottom of my phone. Even with the new ability to move icons, it won’t allow you to rearrange with the bottom unless you originate the move from there. I cannot make phone calls or check messages!!!!
Bought my iPhone in September (post-price drop), and this started happening to me last week.
Took my phone to the Genius Bar, and they swapped it out for a brand new one, no questions asked.
Had my phone since launch date.
In Louisiana we don’t have an apple store. I’m screwed?.
The row above the dock is dead.
What can I do?
I called the 800 number on apple.com and they sent out a loaner via FedEx(to my office in the states). They tried to get me to pay for the shipping and some other charge. I went nuts and they caved. They said I would have mine fixed then sent back to me. AT&T better not charge me the usual swap fee twice. I should have waited until my return to the states and gone to the store for a swap. Its too much hassle to keep switching them out.
My dock strip went dead a couple days ago. Fortunately, I had the same experience as Chandler, above: brought it to an Apple Store and the geniuses gave me a new one, free of charge. Not a loaner, a replacement. Best part is iTunes must back up the iPhone whenever you sync up, so I didn’t lose a thing. All my notes, settings, everything was restored the next time I connected to iTunes. Once again, Apple’s customer support proved to be stellar.
Hey guys i have had my iphone for a month and i have the dead strip on the two top row icons and iv restarted it recovered it and nothing will work I’m mad im going to the apple store to get replaced for FREE
Yo …
New technologies always have bugs … dont be a first adapter and then complain; you should have expected this. The question is how the company deals with them.
I’ve had plenty of problems with Apple, but a moment ago I walked into the apple store and pointed out my dead screen. Within 20 minutes I was walking out of the store with a new phone free of charge. No down time, and all my contacts were restored instantly.
Unless you live far from an Apple store, in the unlikely event this happens, its not much of an issue. Hats off to apple for solid customer support.
My 4GB iphone had a dead strip appear last week (after 6 months of use) I sent it in for repair and just got an email back from Apple saying that the issue was the result of accidental damage or misuse. GRRRRRR. I take good care of this phone. Can I contest this. If so how?
I had a dream to won the iPhone. And one day I got it! The dream comes true! As you say iPhone is only for AT&T service. But what if a country doesn’t have any?? I bought from a guy who bought it from a store in Singapore and it was jailbroken. I was really surprise to see the iPhone work with other GSM operator! But soon (with in 2 week) my dream fall apart. My top lower portion of screen stopped responding touch. Well, what choice do I have now? 1 of my friend lives in NY and I’M planning to send the phone to him to fix or replace. I don’t have any Cash memo from apple store nor do I have an AT&T connection. How my friend in NY can help me on this and send it back to me.??
Please Help!
Leo
from Bangladesh
ipod touch straight out of the box and screen freezes repeatedly.