Elliott C. Back: Technology FTW!

Broken iPhone Screens: Cracked Photos!

Posted in Apple, Design, UI, iPhone by Elliott Back on July 3rd, 2007.

Apple is going to get pwn’d with a major class action lawsuit once consumers realize that the glass screens of their $600 iPhones break more easily than my Creative Zen Vision M. I wonder what looking at one under UV light would reveal, but I bet the glass is only stress resistant from certain angles.

smashed-iphone.jpg

Those of you silly enough to buy iPhones, please try dropping them so that their edges hit a hard surface–say the sidewalk–from 5 to 6 feet in the air directly on one corner at a 45″ angle to the ground. That should cause the entire screen to shatter like a blow-up balloon! Shame on Apple for not mounting the screen around a floating rubber pad to absorb that sort of impact!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 12:41 am and is tagged with creative zen vision, glass screens, class action lawsuit, creative zen, rubber pad, iphone, uv light, blow up, sidewalk, angles, balloon, shame, consumers, apple, photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

Viewing 43 Comments

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    well if you use your 600$ iphone to drop it from 6 feet, then you deserve your iphone to be broken, buy 30$ Ericsson T39 if you can find it and drop as you like it wont brake :D
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    I just bought an iPhone 8 days ago. While texting, I went to change songs, hit the Home button with my thumb and the screen right around the edge of the button cracked pretty significantly.

    I'm dealing with Mac right now, but the AT&T store where I bought it treated me like a criminal. Mac wasn't too bad, but I have yet to see what becomes of all this. I'm supposed to get a temp in the mail tomorrow or the next day and then send back the one I bought for repairs. If they don't give me grief then they'll have my support. I was getting the vibe from them, however, that they weren't entirely sure they would replace it.

    They kept slipping in "if you really didn't drop it," and so on. Yeah, I dropped the phone and it broke right around the button? Seems a strange place for it to break. Additionally, I was so anal about caring for it, that I had the aftermarket rubber guard on it (recessing the screen), to begin with. What a headache.
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    Well, it is made of *glass*. Not sure what else one could expect.
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    IPHONES ARE DONKEYS LIKE THE ONES IN THE MOVIES AHAHAHAAH

    A.J.H.
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    The screens shatter when you drop them on the corner. It's that simple.

    Although you can expect a "Genius" to say it's nearly impossible, even when you're holding a shattered phone in your hand. And then to explain that $249 to replace the screen is a good deal, because they'll give you a whole new phone (since they claim they can't replace just the screen).

    Apple should just admit this and recommend that everyone buy a bump case. And/or offer insurance.
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    Recieved an iPHone for my birthday/Christmas. I was extremely careful with it. Had it less than a week, noticed as I came out of Walmart that the screen was cracked. It was attached to my purse! Mac refuses to replace it. Will repair it for $250!!! I am so upset. Customers do need to ban together as a class action. That is absurd. If you put a thin piece of glass on a phone you must stand behind the product. My phone does not have a scratch on it but two tiny pin head dings on one corner, probably from glancing against a "shoppping buggy". Good grief! How dainty is this thing. NOT acceptable. I will show every one I meet this phone and tell them NOT to buy one. I will carry it cracked!
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    broke the glass too, dad took it away. -__-
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    I think I'm in the same boat, except I did drop mine from about 3 feet (from my pocket) and received a crack around the home button. Fortunately it isn't too noticeable but I'm still so mad and bummed that I COULDN'T have opted for insurance (as I would have) to repair/replace the iPhone. So now it's cracked but I'm not going to pay for another one until it's rendered useless. I just hope the iPhone will drop in price or a 2nd gen will be out at that point. Damn it!
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    I'd Join that lawsuit in a heartbeat. Had the phone for 5 days. Fell from a jacket pocket on a concrete sidewalk and completely shattered. Additionally I was not informed that there was no insurance on the phone available through ATT. Apple no has sold me an iPhone at the amazing price of $399 + $275 for a new screen. What I am curious about is how the screen repair is $275 and the new iPod Touch is $299. Is the rest of the of iPod Touch only $24.

    Or how about the fact you can buy the replacement glass screen online for $110. This tells me Apple must be paying under $30 for the part and then charging $240 in labor to fix their baby. I can't imagine they didn't try dropping a few of these during product testing and were not well aware of this problem. This is customer service at its worse. Thumbs down to Apple. Thanks Mr. Jobs! I hope the law suit comes soon.
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    i got my phone lastnite....this morning drove to the bank had the phone in my pocket....was all excited about my new toy pulled it out in the bank as i was waitin in line....noticed the screen cracked!!! sumhow i guess pressure cracked the glass...im reely pissed and they want $250 to replace my phone
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    My iPhone screen cracked in the space of 2 minutes while in my pocket as I made a short trip in the car. The 'genus' at the apple store initially said it could be covered as there was no sign of the phone being dropped, but when I went back later for service I was told that the damage was no covered. They told me that the glass has been cracked by pressure from keys in my pocket - unlikely since my key ring was in the ignition of the car at the time.

    My gripe is that it is a clear engineering error to place holes in the screen glass as it makes a stress riser. In this case, it is placing 'clean design' over 'good engineering'. Surely by doing this it is foreseeable than many screens will break because of those two holes.

    I am most disappointed with apple.
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    My iphone cracked on the 2nd day I had it. I had a belt case, it fell out of the case, hitting the ground in my parking garage. The result? Two stress breaks, one to the bottom right of the button and one in the top right corner. There are 5 cracks running across the glass.

    $249 to fix it. Ridiculous!

    Luckily, the phone was purchased via Amex platinum.

    Be very careful with your iphone. They are not durable at all.
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    got iphone for my Bday a month back. I normally keep my phone in the purse , yerterday when I took it out while I was driving , I was shocked that the screen had cracked. I called the customer service, they said it was categorised under absue of device hence it will not be covered, and they were not helpful all. I also went to the Apple store which was 40miles from my home , thinking that they may help my situation, but Naa...They want me to pay $250 which is like 75% of the new phone. Seems like if the screen is for 250 can I but the rest of the iphone parts for 50 bucks..... A joke ...I took a data plan because of the Iphone. Don't forget you have to sign a new contract with At& T if you buy Iphone. Now I do not want to repair the phone as it is very expensive , and seems like I am stuck with the contract for no reasons. DO NOT NOT BUY APPLE PRODUCTS....... My first and last mistake. SPREAD AROUND THE WORD TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS YOU KNOW
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    Bought the i Phone for my 14yr old sons xmas, from a o2 shop in Glasgow . Told to claim house insurance or pay £135 to get it fixed, cracked diagonaly across the middle, my son is the most careful person i know, he still has his first play station in mint condition.
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    After updating to 1.4 my phone must be reset at least twice a day. While resetting it today my thumb went right through the glass. I took it back to the apple store only to be told "too bad" its a $250 cost to fix. I've been an apple engineer for years, and now I'm a Director of IT of a large school. So I know what abuse is and this was not abuse! I called for the manager, who was equally unhelpful. I then called my Apple national sale rep, right in front of them, gave her their name and told her I would seriously be reconsider any future Apple purchases this year if this was there idea of service (that about $130K of business). And yes, that is not an idle threat. I have had it with bad Apple service. Finally I called Apple support from the nonGenuis counter and explained my situation, gave them the name of my account rep. I got the same crap, demanded a supervisor. After much arguing I finally will be sent a new phone.

    I have some clout I can throw around, most people do not. SHAME ON APPLE FOR NOT STANDING BEHIND ITS PRODUCT. This chunk of fragile glass you call a phone is poorly designed. Stand by it

    Dan
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    Hey my name is James Harris and im with the at@tphoneshow and we need a broken iphone like yours if u could email me at atandtphoneshow@yahoo.com that would be great thanks
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    my fone fell on the high way 2 cars went over it including mine wich I backed up to retrieving it.:. Apple made me pay 250 . Even tho I only needed the glass. The fone was working fine I'll say even better reception . I was still listening to an mp3 on myspace waiting to see the guy from apple. . Wat a dissapoimentno insurance no nothing . Warranty is I don't even know .:. If I knew how to I'll sue apple for this bs.. ;:, HUA
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    I've had my iPod Touch for nearly five months now. I saw the iPhone scratch/stress tests on youtube and all, so I decided to try them. I dropped it on the concrete floor in my basement and nothing happened. Then I threw it against the stucco ceiling and let it fall against the concrete floor. No scratches or breaks, still perfectly functional. Whenever I'm with my friends they like to drop it on the sidewalk. Nothing happens. In fact, I'm typing this whole thing from my iPod and I love it. I'm not sure what happened with your iPhone/Touches, maybe they were defective? Still... i never purposely dropped it on its side, but that doesn't mean it never landed on the side. But all I know is that mine is probably more durable than I am.
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    So my girl scrounges up enough dough to get me a iphone for Christmas. Just a great product. Works way better than I could have expected. Every naysayer I encounter I turn as soon as they hold it in their hands. This morning while I'm shaking out of my warm ups to hop in the shower I accidentally put my foot down and hear a crunch. My Iphone had a large crack by the ear piece which just gets bigger if you try and use the phone. Now lots of places that have been in business for a while like to make a customer fell good about shopping with them. Most places I fell might have replaced this no worry. "Accidental, sure, we understand. You spend your money with us. It's good to have you as a customer." Nope. Not Apple. "Oh we understand you broke it accidentally but our policy is take your money, and then be as difficult as possibly in telling you basically have to shell out more to feel satisfied. What a joke!
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    I dropped my iPhone from my hand, it hit the ground and the screened cracked. It was clearly an accident so even if they had offered insurance it won't have been covered. Plus my lover cracked the phone for me - I'm using a T-Mobile pay-by-the-minute plan - and he is in NY. So I guess taking the thing to Apple won't do much good. The lesson I learned here is THERE IS NO ACCIDENT IN A PERFECT UNIVERSE. SYNCHRONICITY IS THE OPPERATING LAW. When I dropped it, I was really happy, feeling good, ready to kick ass for my movie work calling up all kinds of people. Looking at the cracked screen I hear this message: "Calm down girl! Get ahold of yourself! Don't talk! Just do your work quietly." Some might say, how you get that message from a cracked screen? However stupid it sounds, that's the message I got and I am thankful. I love the iPhone and I'll pay another $299 for a new one. This time I won't crack it - neither iternally nor externally. But I will still kick ass on behave of my movie....just without so much talking.
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    I have had a serious problem with my iPhone. I was in school, and it fell a foot from my hand, landed on carpet, and cracked the screen. Yet, you manage to hear all these good things like the iPhone still working after a truck ran over it. I must have really really bad luck or apple are just getting worse.
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    My sister bought an Iphone for her birthday and dropped the phone 3 weeks later while going into her apartment on the concrete. Made one long crack from earpiece to bottom of phone. You can barely see it, but the fact is there is a crack and you can really see it when the phone is off. Then last week she dropped the iphone in the toilet, I know gross. The phone stopped working. Needless to say, 3 days later the phone was working again same as usual. But Apple wants to charge $250 for new screed........Absolutely RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you pay $400 for the phone, can't they atleast charge a small amount to fix.............I would pay $50, but nothing more.
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