White iPhone 3G fleet plagued with cracked cases
By Will Park on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 3:06 PM PST In Apple, Devices, Rumors, iPhone
Wouldn’t you know it? Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s hottest (which is debatable) new iPhone color, White, has proven to be the most problematic. Sure, it hides finger-smudges that the Black variant so deftly emphasis, but what good is a fingerprint-free casing if it starts to crack?
Scattered reports are coming in that point to some White iPhone 3Gs developing hairline cracks (or worse) in their possibly ceramic-based casing. For some reason, Black iPhone 3G handsets aren’t as prone to developing these stress-fractures. Black iPhone 3Gs are also affected, but the hairline fractures are less noticeable.
Perhaps whatever additive is used to create the Black-colored iPhone rear-cover is serving to reinforce the casing itself? Carbon black is added to tires to help reinforce the otherwise weak natural rubber. The carbon-based nano-particles hep increase tensile strength in rubber. Could the Black-coloring in Black iPhone cases be serving the same tensile-strength boosting purpose? It makes sense, but only in speculation. In reality, we have no idea why White iPhones are cracking.
Unfortunately for those affected, Apple has not yet recognized cracked White iPhone 3G casings as a “known” problem. That means there won’t be any iPhone 3G swaps until Apple officially acknowledges that there even is a problem with their fleet of White iPhones. And, with Apple still struggling to keep their Apple Store shelves stocked with iPhones, it might take a while for Apple to start replacing defective units.
Still, keep your chin up, White iPhone owners, Apple’s customer service policies are usually on-point and they will replace your cracked iPhone. It’s only a matter of waiting for Apple to stock enough White iPhone units to meet new customer demand as well as demand for replacement units.
[Via: Macenstein]
This is being reported on the black models as well, just it’s harder to see a crack on those as it is on the white models
My iPhone developed a crease which is turning into a crack within the first 3 days.
What colour do you have Will?
the black ones have them too but are WAY less noticable.
I have the Black iPhone 3G and my girlfriend has the White iPhone 3G.
Now come on.. I know what this is REALLY all about:
Apple is just trying to do some search engine optimization to reduce the “cracking iphone” search hits that lead to jailbreaking guides.
The next thing they’re going to do is launch a hugely popular iPhone game based on the TV series “Prison Break” ..titled “iPhone Jailbrake” of course.
I had my Iphone Black 16G for about a week when I read this post. Took a closer look at my phone. Had a crack right under the headphone jack. (If you have you hold your iphone glass-down, it is the piece of plastic btw the bottom of the headphone jack and the silver trim, TINY crack).
I called Apple and they set up an appointment and I got the phone replaced. The phone they gave me was new, sealed, in the box. I take a look at it, it had 2 CRACKS! It looked like parentheses around the headphone jack. Had to make another appointment with the Genius bar to get another phone at a different store.
The guy at the Florida Mall was a total ass and tried to tell me that defects like that are acceptable and that they technically didn’t have to replace it, when the rep i spoke to on the phone said they would replace it no problem. Anyway, long story short, I got 2 phones in a row with cracks, but apple still replaced it for a new one – no cracks.
Im so not impressed with apple, I bought an iphone 3G 16Gb in white yesterday, the first one I bought had scratches on the chrome straight out the box, the next one has a hair line crack in the top corner of the phone, now im going to have to go replace it again, this really is becoming a pain
Yes this is happening to me as well. I developed 2 cracks on my white 16gb near the headphone jack. I went to my local apple store and they exchanged it for a new one no problems. I observed the casing for at least a couple times a day. Then after about a week, I had the phone in a case and never dropped it. I then noticed this new phone now has a crack near the speaker. I bought an iphone 3g because is the best phone out on the market as far as software capabilities and endless apps. I am disappointed because this is a pain in the ass to keep exchanging phones. Apple should of kept the chrome back like the old iphone.
i got a iphone 16gb in white. the white is much nicer but after hearing cracks r possible im not very happy. il have to wait and see.
White Iphones are classic and chic. The black ones are ugly as fuck.
Get the white,