Glass scratches cause Apple to suspend slide-on iPhone 4 case sales

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 60
    Slide -On -Cases are causing glass to crack because they are made of rigid plastic and have no soft material between actual IPHONE4 and glass. Plastic tends to shrink or can be made a little offsize at times and being that the case is 'MOLDED' it's made exact with no room. and a little piece of dirt can be the difference.

    This is poor design on the casemakers behalf. Adding a soft buffer wouldn't be that expensive, However would cut down on the casemakers profit which is over 100%
  • Reply 22 of 60
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by s4mb4 View Post


    my iPhone 4 has no scratches on the front, but several on the back. i thought the glass was the same on both sides, but apparently not



    It sounds like you have ruled out the possibility that you don?t use the front side the same way as the backside, or that the scratch occurred during the overwhelmingly likely occasion that only one side was touching the abrader.
  • Reply 23 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by s4mb4 View Post


    my iPhone 4 has no scratches on the front, but several on the back. i thought the glass was the same on both sides, but apparently not



    There's the issue right there - is the rear of the phone the same toughened glass as the front, or is it cheap, weak Microsoft-style glass?
  • Reply 24 of 60
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by blackbyrd View Post


    Would have preferred aluminum but I guess it kills the reception.



    There is no guessing about it. Each material has pros and cons associated with it and unfortunately it seems those complaining of the very versatile and RF transparent plastic making the iPhone feel ?cheap? may have finally got to Apple. Personally, I?ve dropped my iPhone 4 plenty of times, but I?m well aware that it?s more likely to crack than with a malleable plastic, though plastic is more likely to scratch than glass. Either way, people will be unhappy.
  • Reply 25 of 60
    s4mb4s4mb4 Posts: 267member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by knightlie View Post


    There's the issue right there - is the rear of the phone the same toughened glass as the front, or is it cheap, weak Microsoft-style glass?



    its different i guess. some google'ing has confirmed it.
  • Reply 26 of 60
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by s4mb4 View Post


    its different i guess. some google'ing has confirmed it.



    You guess? You?ve confirmed it but offer no evidence to support the claim?



    Surely it?s ?different?. One is attached by a couple screw points and the other is glued to other component across most of its surface. That in itself could account for it?s ability to absorb an impact better without actually being a ?different? composite of Corning?s Gorilla Glass®.
  • Reply 27 of 60
    Is this an issue with users constantly removing and then replacing the case? Or is it something that happens even if the case is only installed once?
  • Reply 28 of 60
    Does this mean the Apple iPhone 5 design will come back to Earth with materials that withstand a person's every day use of a product that can be used multiple times a day?



    Have a scratched glass iPhone 4? Thank a tree-hugger.
  • Reply 29 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post




    Surely it?s ?different?. One is attached by a couple screw points and the other is glued to other component across most of its surface. That in itself could account for it?s ability to absorb an impact better without actually being a ?different? composite of Corning?s Gorilla Glass®.



    Good points.



    Are there aftermarket replacements for the fragile back? I would think that people might want to add bling while fixing Apple's design defect.
  • Reply 30 of 60
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member
    I used to have an InCase slider case for my iPhone 3G and you definitely didn't want to be taking that thing off and putting it back on more often than you needed to. There were a pair of silicone strips on the inside that would come in contact with the back of the phone. If you got some dirt or debris stuck to them, they would definitely scratch you phone. The only scratches on the back or my phone were a pair of nice parallel scratches right where the silicone strips came in contact with the back. I imagine it's the same deal with their case for the iPhone 4. However, I can't imagine it being much worse than the bumper case from Apple. There's always dirt and dust getting under the lip of the rubber part around the edges of the front and back of the phone. I can't say I see any scratches yet though.
  • Reply 31 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by knightlie View Post


    cheap, weak Microsoft-style glass?



    Hey now! That's what I tiled my bathroom with.
  • Reply 32 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella View Post


    That is total B.S.! What are we talking about gravel? Road salt? Diamonds?

    How friking big would the "dirt" have to be to crack the glass.



    Maybe it is because it is glass and people drop phones?



    They just used bad language skills to describe the issue, since it's also the exact same words they used last time, I'm guessing this is mostly a "cut and paste" article.



    Neither the sand particles, nor the case itself can actually cause the iPhone glass to shatter. The scratches introduced by the trapped sand particles create flaws in the glass that can lead the glass to shatter later on (when it's dropped or slightly impacted in some way), because that's how glass works. It's very strong unless it has flaws, then it breaks along those flaws.



    The fear is that there is an increased incidence of shattering, due to the introduction of tiny flaws in the glass, which is caused by small hard particles (almost always sand basically), moving between the slider case and the phone when you put it on or off.
  • Reply 33 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steve-J View Post


    Good points.



    Are there aftermarket replacements for the fragile back? I would think that people might want to add bling while fixing Apple's design defect.



    I'm thinking it should be a snap to remove the back and create a duplicate out of a less breakable material.
  • Reply 34 of 60
    s4mb4s4mb4 Posts: 267member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    You guess? You?ve confirmed it but offer no evidence to support the claim?



    Surely it?s ?different?. One is attached by a couple screw points and the other is glued to other component across most of its surface. That in itself could account for it?s ability to absorb an impact better without actually being a ?different? composite of Corning?s Gorilla Glass®.



    not sure what side of the fence you are on here???



    are you saying i should know better or are you calling me a liar? in either case, i take offense.
  • Reply 35 of 60
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post


    Please spare us from any more "-gates." I know the author of this post didn't say it, but only quoted the source. But please, in the name of all that's holy, let's try harder not to pass on or repeat lazy journalistic clichés. Quote the meat of it, but bleep out the stupidity.



    In this story, it was just a quote. I think you need to jump back to the story this one is based on, complain to the source.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella View Post


    That is total B.S.! What are we talking about gravel? Road salt? Diamonds?

    How friking big would the "dirt" have to be to crack the glass.



    Maybe it is because it is glass and people drop phones?



    When glass is scratched, a weak point is created to allow for braking the glass. It's a basic principle of glass cutting. The sliding might take a piece of grit and scribe lines into the back, because it's a slide-on type of case.
  • Reply 36 of 60
    mrstepmrstep Posts: 514member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post


    Apple is doomed. Let's get back to ugly functional electronics. Forget trying to put a little grace into our lives. Resistance is futile.



    I agree that form is important, but while the 3GS had form and function, the iPhone 4 managed to expose the antenna and degrade signal quality (unless you think it's just an issue with mine?) and while the idea of putting glass on the back is elegant, the spider-web pattern on mine from dropping it 1 time from about 2 feet doesn't speak highly of the idea from a functional perspective.



    The 3GS felt better in the hand and the case didn't crack if you happened to drop it from a couple of feet. (Just basing that on my case and those of other friends - cracked backs & front/back corners.) I'm not asking for a Dell design, I'm just saying the iPhone 4 has some issues. Great screen, better camera, but the usability took a leap backwards.



    I know, I know, I'm probably dropping it wrong.
  • Reply 37 of 60
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by s4mb4 View Post


    not sure what side of the fence you are on here???



    are you saying i should know better or are you calling me a liar? in either case, i take offense.



    No need to take offense (and no "fences", as far as I can see). He's just pointing out that the back of the iPhone is manifestly "different" from the front (in that it's on the back), no googling necessary.



    So if you've discovered something more particularly different, as you state, it would be cool if you posted a link.
  • Reply 38 of 60
    cmf2cmf2 Posts: 1,427member
    I'd like to see some real evidence that the scratches are causing the cracks, and no, cracks appearing along scratches are not proof. Glass will crack at its weakest point and a scratch will make it slightly weaker than elsewhere, so if enough force is applied to the glass it will likely crack along the scratch, but if the the scratch wasn't there, the glass would probably still crack. A surface scratch won't make it a lot more susceptible to cracking.
  • Reply 39 of 60
    steve-jsteve-j Posts: 320member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cmf2 View Post


    A surface scratch won't make it a lot more susceptible to cracking.



    That is one heck of a claim. Got anything to back it up?



    ISTM that surface scratches are universally used to make glass more susceptible to cracking. Google the term glass cutting for any number of websites describing how to apply surface scratches to glass in order to make it more susceptible to cracking.



    Got anything at all to back up your claim?
  • Reply 40 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    In this story, it was just a quote. I think you need to jump back to the story this one is based on, complain to the source.



    Did read my second sentence? Thought I acknowledged that. I was addressing the matter of passing stuff like that on instead of filtering it out. In that case, it's not just the source who is at fault.
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