Foxconn workers reportedly strike over iPhone 5 quality control rules, say handset design is flawed - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by thataveragejoe 

That may be true, and I don't have a case on my 5 yet, but it seems rather impractical then. A phone should be beautiful and durable. It probably gets tossed around the most in a day of anything you own by the nature of life.

I don't use a case. I've got a Sena leather sleeve. When the phone is in use or just on display, it's either in my hands or on top of the sleeve. But that's neither here nor there. 

The iPhone has *always* used materials that prefer gentler handling. Always. And consumers have been more than ok with this. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreambrother808 

To which holidays is the article referring?  Chinese people don't celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas to the extent they are in the West, nor are they public holidays.  This makes me doubt the validity of the article in general.  

Commies don't celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas? No kidding.

There is something called National Day, which is Oct 1 - 7, which is a major public holiday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by droslovinia 

Is anyone else put off by the writing in this article? Since when do people in China want to take off for Christmas? And who, exactly, is beating the Foxconn management? You'd think they'd be fired for that. How dependable is this report, anyway?

Good eye.  ;)

"...given the handset's design flaws."

Design flaws?  Quality control is put in place to MEET expectations and / or requirements.  The world has gone mad!  Yeesh!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaptorOO7 

I am taking the side of the Foxconn workers on this one.  First, they are paid shit wages and I don't care that they work and live in China and that's the norm over there.  The profit margins for any iDevice let alone the iPhone are more than sufficient that Apple can and should be paying more given the stringent QC needed.  This of course should mean the QC should be met if you are going to be paid more.

 

This also brings up the fact that this design may not be the best fit for the materials.  Its time to design something that is more fluid and allows for better grip and feel in the hand instead of the hard, cold edges they are so fond of.  Look at the evolution of the iPhone to iPhone 5, From curves to structural aluminum and glass.

 

I happen to like my iP5 64GB Black (Only one itsy bitsy nick on the beveled edge) but if they had not gone anodized aluminum this time around the nicks and chips wouldn't show up on the black model so easily.  This is a design flaw and a let down in the Designed in Cupertino QC.

Why aren't you complaining about Exxon paying their gas station clerks more than minimum wage since they make billions of dollars?

When they start making the iPhone 6 from the liquid metal alloy Apple invested hundreds of millions of dollars in for exclusive rights, customers won't be complaining about scratches any more.

They will be complaining about splashes.

Originally Posted by msimpson 
When they start making the iPhone 6 from the liquid metal alloy Apple invested hundreds of millions of dollars in for exclusive rights, customers won't be complaining about scratches any more.

That's the 8th iPhone. You mean the iPhone 5S, which is the 7th iPhone, unless you don't think the next one will have a case change.

design flaw...

Got mine last Friday (thank you for telling of the order online & pickup in the store - saved me 3-4 weeks of waiting on pre-order) and mine was flawless in perfect condition. Waiting for my case to arrive to keep it protected. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by droslovinia 

Is anyone else put off by the writing in this article? Since when do people in China want to take off for Christmas? And who, exactly, is beating the Foxconn management? You'd think they'd be fired for that. How dependable is this report, anyway?

Been to China many times and have friends there, the people I know never talk of expecting time off for Christmas. Most don't celebrate it or if they do it's more just for fun and something to do, not for serious. China takes off 1-2 weeks for Chinese New Year in every February, so I doubt many expect off for Xmas... maybe since these people work for a Western company, but even then they still get a lot of their own lengthy holidays. They just had a full week off for their National Day. They get days off for many holidays while in the US we mostly get only one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apple ][ 

It'll be a great day when machines could assemble an iPhone or Apple device without any human intervention whatsoever.

 

Foxconn could then fire one million Chinese workers, and nobody would ever have to complain about any "slave labor" or working conditions ever again. 

Funny, some potential future customer of iRobot is thinking exactly the same thing you and your co-workers.....  ...and not just for assembly-line jobs....

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrrodriguez 


I read that differently, the way I read it was the managers beat the workers in some cases, sort of like "shut up you, get back to work"

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetry 

 

I'm sure that's what it meant, but that's not what it said.

Yes it is:  "Following the incident, another fight broke out in the same area with inspectors once again being "beat up...."

Quote:

Originally Posted by thataveragejoe 

A phone should be beautiful and durable.

Well, I'll agree that a phone should be durable, at least from a functional standpoint.  But very few phones even start out "beautiful", let alone stay that way.  Nobody should expect a device used so frequently to maintain a pristine state.  Heck, it is only the beauty of the iPhone itself that invites the additional scrutiny.  Those other POS phones get scratched too, but nobody raises a snicker.

For anyone that is concerned about maintaining a pristine iPhone, do what most people do:  get a low profile case that maintains the sleekness, lightness, and still lets you see the sexy back.  (Such as a bumper, which some companies are now providing for the five.)

Thompson

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightknight 

I really dislike your waywards ways, Apple][. Because you were born in a rich country and you're an Apple Stock Owner, you make horrible, inhuman statements regularly.
I don't know the situation there. Probably, Apple has ensured that the best possible work conditions exist for workers and this is just journalistic exaggeration.
However "If they don't like it, then they can quit. They are assembling Apple products, not cheap, Android junk, and they are expected to meet certain quality control demands. Those workers who are not up to par should immediately be fired and replaced with more capable workers." is the just the type of phrase that let me seriously wish the government would make a nice little law to strip you of everything you own (or even better, some big business ruin you, swindle you of your "hard earned" money [note that I have no idea if you worked hard, or not, and I'm not judging that part] without you having the slightest chance to save yourself, otherwise it would be to easy...). Or in an ideal world, you should be teleported into the body of one of these workers.
But then again, you're the very proof that this world is imperfect. If at least they'd lock you up in a room with only Nokia Winphones for all eternity...

So if somebody is American, they shouldn't be allowed to comment on anything? 

And god forbid if they also happen to own a few shares of AAPL.   

My viewpoints and principles do not change, regardless of which country I might find myself in. It's interesting to note that my viewpoints basically favor freedom, free business and free will (they can quit if they don't like it), while those who criticize me, such as yourself, hopes for some communist government or dictatorship to come and take away whatever I have earned. Chinese workers are China's problem, and I don't really care for communist governments.

If only the world had more people like me, then it would be a more perfect and better place.

So low education, low paid workers are challenging QA protocol established by highly educated, highly paid engineers? 

That's akin to challenging my boss because he makes me, you know, work. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigpics 

 

Funny, some potential future customer of iRobot is thinking exactly the same thing you and your co-workers.....  ...and not just for assembly-line jobs....

 

Any human who can not do a better job than a robot deserves to be replaced, if it is cost efficient.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wizard69 

By the way does anybody notice the lack of logic in this article. If suppliers where actually having problems delivering parts Foxconn wouldn't be staffing their plants with overtime and holiday work.

I agree with you, it makes me question the how valid the entire story is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigpics 

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetry 

 

I'm sure that's what it meant, but that's not what it said.

Yes it is:  "Following the incident, another fight broke out in the same area with inspectors once again being "beat up...."

There it does, but not the sentence I quoted:

Quote:

Originally Posted by msalganik 

jeez, I'll take my phone with a few tiny nicks... thanks fine. Just quit torturing these poor people. I'll wait for it a little longer too, just give them their vacation days from goodness sake... they're already working for practically nothing.

What a bunch of crap.

They get paid very nicely, as a matter of fact they recently even got raises, and I will not accept any huge flaws on any Apple products that I purchase. I also would like the product as soon as possible without any unnecessary delays.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apple ][ 

If they don't like it, then they can quit.

 

They are assembling Apple products, not cheap, Android junk, and they are expected to meet certain quality control demands.

 

Those workers who are not up to par should immediately be fired and replaced with more capable workers.

It's the workers who did the product design of the phone that need to be disciplined.

Any Industrial designer would know not to design this iPhone from aluminum.

Jonny go sloppy and was beguiled by the pretty machined aluminum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boeyc15 


Put a case on that puppy when you wear it?

I would (that thing is Fugly!)

Then I'd sell it as soon as possible.

It's not painted, it's anodized, which is a surface chemical treatment which hardens and colors the Aluminum surface.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9secondko 

It's the PAINT chipping. Not the actual materials.
The real problem is indeed a design one. but not in terms of the core industrial design itself.
I'd wager that almost all "scuffed" iPhones are the black models.
The reason is a simple one. the metal is PAINTED.
And that is a rather horrible way to dress it up.
In fact, you could argue that the phone would even look better with the bare metal showing through.
At the least, they could have used a better coating.
I do feel for the Foxconn workers. They slave away trying to earn a living, being trained for one contract, then retrained for another, and again and again.
In fact, these folks building the iPhone ARE the same people building the junky Android stuff. But Apple requires more (as they should) quality and care. However, the Foxconn management needs to agree to better training for their workers. that seems to be what was requested. and that seems reasonable.
People can only take so much.
Hopefully, the iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 goes back to native material appearance. It has been a hallmark of Apple for a long time.
Painting metal is just sad. I wonder who conned Ive into having it done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrrodriguez 


They're requesting for training. They don't mind doing the work, but when they're not properly trained and they're returning products back that seem to be in good condition, the other workers get pissed at them because they're adding more work to them.

a scratch"this big" is not allowed, consider yourself trained!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreambrother808 

To which holidays is the article referring?  Chinese people don't celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas to the extent they are in the West, nor are they public holidays.  This makes me doubt the validity of the article in general.  

The first week of October is holiday in China (National Day).  I mostly work with a team in Shanghai, and everyone there was off for at least a week.  Kind of sucks that they would stop anyone from taking the holiday (and probably at short notice), although I'd lay the blame on Foxxconn rather than Apple.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MsQueen 

I think management is the issure here.
Anyway, why do people add /s to the end of their comments?

/s=Sarcasm

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9secondko 

It's the PAINT chipping. Not the actual materials.
The real problem is indeed a design one. but not in terms of the core industrial design itself.
I'd wager that almost all "scuffed" iPhones are the black models.
The reason is a simple one. the metal is PAINTED.
And that is a rather horrible way to dress it up.
In fact, you could argue that the phone would even look better with the bare metal showing through.
At the least, they could have used a better coating.
I do feel for the Foxconn workers. They slave away trying to earn a living, being trained for one contract, then retrained for another, and again and again.
In fact, these folks building the iPhone ARE the same people building the junky Android stuff. But Apple requires more (as they should) quality and care. However, the Foxconn management needs to agree to better training for their workers. that seems to be what was requested. and that seems reasonable.
People can only take so much.
Hopefully, the iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 goes back to native material appearance. It has been a hallmark of Apple for a long time.
Painting metal is just sad. I wonder who conned Ive into having it done.

Is it painted or anodized? Haven't taken a blade to mine to find out!