Making the phone thin and weak to make it nice was stupid.
Tim Cook is not free from blame. Ultimately he's the top guy and needs to take the fall for this. I'm not saying he should be fired but he needs to get the blame.
Apple desperately needs a shake up at the top. I'm sorry but most of the top level guys seem lazy and comfortable.
I would fire Tim Cook personally, I know that isn't a popular opinion.
You would fire the CEO? Jesus the lack of business acumen on forums.
Good grief, don't take Sog's opinion as the popular viewpoint. He cannot see anything beyond his own portfolio.
Is that some kind of viral skin infection that people get after using an iPhone? Is it contagious?
Who came up with that name? Samsung? Some Fandroid?
I don't have any problems with my phone, since I have a solid as a rock iPhone SE, built like a tank, but If I were forced to choose, I'd rather have Touch Disease instead of Android AIDS, not to mention Samsung Ebola. Even Zika or cancer is preferable.
You're mistaken about the sample size, but that's fine. You're entitled to believe what you want. We'll all see together, with time. There are a pair of 6 Pluses in this house, and they're fine. I also have a 2012 Retina MacBook Pro without the GPU problem after four years, but I don't deny that there's a potential problem with that line just because mine works.
Those 54 geniuses that have contacted me about the article an hour ago? Up to 70 now. Even if you don't believe the numbers for whatever your rationalizations are, the anecdotal evidence from the people dealing with the customers is weighty.
We did address that the damage may be from the stresses that flexing the larger phone may induce. Like I said, we'll see with time.
Additionally, I'm not sure why you're taking this so personally. A cliche, sure, but it is what it is. It's not a disparagement of what you bought, or on Apple as a company. Its just what's happening, outside of Apple's statistical norm.
In any event, have a good weekend. We're still collecting data.
If you want to respond as editorial staff, please provide an update in the original post, not in the comments. Don't argue your position without supporting data. You're a journalist, show tabulated data to back up your argument and or POV. If this is a big story then expect to provide details.
Arguing that at few thousand a week are failing is a significant trend, but you leave out the context of the pool of iPhone 6's and 6 Plus's that were manufactured since September 2014 and I'm guessing today that total exceeds 200 million. If they are only now beginning to fail in increasing numbers, then there is either a manufacturing issue, soldering of the device, or their is a correlation with the bending/flex of the iPhone housing, which to me should indicate a higher failure rate in the 6 Plus vs the iPhone 6; it's longer and wider and would have inherently higher loading.
Commenters are allowed, indeed expected, to spew unfounded crap, but AI editors should have a higher standard; show your work as updates in the OP.
Edit to correct date of iPhone 6 release.
They're not journalists or statisticians; they're bloggers, so I think you're expecting a little too much here.
The sample size of shops is too small to begin with, and a percentage of people coming in and reporting the problem (no doubt undergoing a surge in recent days as the issue has become widely reported) doesn't really tell us much without knowing how many of these phones are actually in use.
However, if the store gets one of these phones and it shows no other signs of damage then the store should replace it, warranty or not.
My wife dropped her phone and we had to pay $329 to get a new one from SimplyMac 5 months ago. The "new" phone out of the box started developing this exact issue slowly over the past few months. I originally thought it was the Otterbox Defender case with the built-in screen protector causing the issues. I ripped out the plastic screen and it didn't make any difference. We bought the beefy case to protect the new phone, but it turns out the new phone is defective.
After calling Apple, I received the run around where I finally received a "no, we can't replace the phone" from a supervisor named Carlos as it's out side the 90 day replacement warranty. Hopefully the fact that so many other people are having this problem will cause Apple to acknowledge they made some batches of crappy phones.
This is very frustrating! The products and phone support have gone downhill in my mind.
Here's the video of her phone:
Assuming this is a true story then you need to try harder. This is a defective unit, so the 90 day rule clearly does not apply.
Here is my dealing with the touch disease with apple care. as on now over 15% of people taken there Iphones into apple have the flickering/touch disease problem.
Hi jason powers
(jpowers ),
Thanks for
participating in Apple Support Communities.
We removed
your post Re: iPhone 6 touchscreen issue (touch disease) because it was
nontechnical or off-topic. We understand wanting to share experiences, but
these forums are meant for technical questions that can be answered by the
community.
Thursday,
Aug 25, 2016 08:25 AM
Duration 27 minutes 22 seconds
Mercedes
Thanks
for contacting AppleCare chat support. How can I help you?
Mercedes
Thank
you for contacting Apple Care! My name is Mercedes, how can I help you today?
Here’s
where the plot thickens: Replacing the touchscreen doesn’t fix the
problem. The gray bar eventually shows up on the new screen, too. Because,
according to repair pros, the problem isn’t the screen at all. It’s the two
touchscreen controller chips, or Touch IC chips, on the logic
board inside the phone.
These
two chips translate your finger mashing on the display into information your
phone can actually use. When the Touch IC chips go bad, you can jab, tap, and
poke the screen all you want—your phone can’t correctly process the
information. At least, not until the bum chips are replaced with new
ones.Apple’s repair Geniuses aren’t equipped to make specialized repairs to the
logic board in-house, so they can’t actually fix Touch Disease. But skilled,
third-party microsoldering specialists (most “unauthorized” to do Apple
repairs, according to official company policy)can fix phones with
symptoms of Touch Disease. And they can do it a whole lot cheaper than the cost
of a new logic board or an out-of-warranty phone replacement. Which is
precisely why so many of these damaged iPhones are finding their way into
repair shops around the world.
Mercedes
Give
me just a few moments to look over that website you sent.
Ok,
so Apple hasn’t released an official report on this issue. I did look on Google
as you said, and all of those articles are about a day old. Since Apple hasn’t released
anything yet, unfortunately all I can really tell you is to stand by.
Mercedes
I
could set you up with an appointment for a store but it looks to me like they
will be telling you the same thing, to stand by.
Mercedes
Once
Apple releases an actual statement on this issue, we wont really know how we
can help everyone having the problem.
I've replaced a couple iPhones for Home button issues and one for a battery, but that's it. I want to see how other "common" issues compare with this touchscreen controller issue.
Making the phone thin and weak to make it nice was stupid.
Tim Cook is not free from blame. Ultimately he's the top guy and needs to take the fall for this. I'm not saying he should be fired but he needs to get the blame.
Apple desperately needs a shake up at the top. I'm sorry but most of the top level guys seem lazy and comfortable.
I would fire Tim Cook personally, I know that isn't a popular opinion.
Lern to read. The problem isn't because the device was big and thin, it was because of the touch controllers, since only some iphone units have this problem. Some even came with the problem out of the box.
According to ifixit, the root cause of the problem is the bending issue. The latter happens at the height of the volume buttons,exactly the place where the touch controllers are put and are getting bad soldering. In the iPhone 6s the touch controllers are moved to a different place, so no issue
So....do we all still believe the "only 9 phones were bent" argument from 2 years ago? The rabid apologists from then seem strangely silent now, or did they go away when Apple switched to a stronger alloy? Let's all take a moment to think back to that time the next time Apple and Tim make another assertion that seems incongruent with reality.
Mmmm. No one said that only 9 phones were bent. There were hundreds of reports and loads of videos of people giving themselves hernias while bending the phone. Apple said that it received nine complaints about bent phones. People who deliberately bend the phone or sit on it while it's in their back pocket are not going to report it.
If you mistreat it, pretty much any phone will break. Simple as that.
Whenever one of these 'gate' stories comes up, I wonder why it is I never see these problems with any of my kit. I've have a MacBook Pro running like a dream since 2008, and not a single problem over four iPhones and three iPads.
Making the phone thin and weak to make it nice was stupid.
Tim Cook is not free from blame. Ultimately he's the top guy and needs to take the fall for this. I'm not saying he should be fired but he needs to get the blame.
Apple desperately needs a shake up at the top. I'm sorry but most of the top level guys seem lazy and comfortable.
I would fire Tim Cook personally, I know that isn't a popular opinion.
If this is related to bending/flexing of the 6 and 6 Plus, and at the same time isn't an issue with the 6s and 6s Plus, then the issue was likely mitigated with the redesign of 6s with a 7000 series aluminum housing; hence making the iPhone thin was, and continues to be, an excellent design decision. I note that this is an iPhone that has been in the system for almost two years, and only recently has this issue become notable.
At the same time, I'd guess that over the product life cycle of the 6 and 6 Plus, Apple was building something on the order of 350,000 units per day, so the rate of failure, so far, looks to be relatively small.
Lessons to learn, sure, but I'm not seeing anyone that should be fired, especially not Tim Cook.
The Touch ICs was moved from the logic board onto the display on the iPhone 6S/6S Plus.
That's why the Phone 6S/6S Plus don't have this issue.
Also, this issue has been know for sometime in the repair community for a some time.
It only became an epidemic recently because people's iPhones ran out of warranty.
So it's a pool of some 200 million devices; and defining an "epidemic" by anecdotal evidence is a big premature, don't you think, without actual data.
He contact Apple Geniuses at several different stores. What more do you want?
I have a 6 Plus with no such issue, but my concern is the resale value once I decide to upgrade from the 7. People aware of this issue will shy away from the used 6 because it cannot be repaired.
Cannot be repaired? What the heck is this? there are plenty of microsolderers in the U.S. That fix this problem all day every day. Go find one!
Making the phone thin and weak to make it nice was stupid.
Tim Cook is not free from blame. Ultimately he's the top guy and needs to take the fall for this. I'm not saying he should be fired but he needs to get the blame.
Apple desperately needs a shake up at the top. I'm sorry but most of the top level guys seem lazy and comfortable.
I would fire Tim Cook personally, I know that isn't a popular opinion.
Lern to read. The problem isn't because the device was big and thin, it was because of the touch controllers, since only some iphone units have this problem. Some even came with the problem out of the box.
Learn to think. The problem IS because the device is big and thin. Why do you think the 6+ is affected more than the 6? What is different about them? They both use the same cumulus and meson touch chips in the exact same spot on the board.
Lets think even harder---why do you think some refurbs have touch disease right out of the box? There are no reports of any bona fide new phones having the problem out of the box. And in our experience fixing these all day every day once a phone is fixed --by replacing the touch chips with a new set of the exact same touch chips--the problem doesn't come back as long as the board gets the futureproof shield mod.
so what makes most sense here? Apple is taking in bent/dropped phones that are setups to have touch disease. They are harvesting those boards, popping them into new housings with new screen and battery and putting them back on the shelf. They are selling these bad boards for $329 to people turning in their phones for touch disease.
ie, they are taking your money and giving you back someone else's beat up board that is set up to have the exact same problem you just paid them to "fix". And all the while they refuse to let you know that there are plenty of people out there that can *actually* fix the underlying problem.
Is that some kind of viral skin infection that people get after using an iPhone? Is it contagious?
Who came up with that name? Samsung? Some Fandroid?
I did. I coined the term for the IFixit article based on what we say around the shop. And incidentally I'm an iPhone user.
For the sake of brevity in my repair business, I call various common signature problems by disease names. iPhone 6s gets backlight disease, 2011 MacBook gets GPU disease....
probably because in my old life I was an anatomy and physiology professor.
Fantastic job Mike--love this article and your clever approach here.
Im curious--what prompted you to collect data on touch issues in advance of the IFixit article?
We didn't get the data in advance, we got it retroactively. I've worked with all four of these people in the past that I got the first round of data from, and knew when I talked to them on Tuesday that data from before and after the reveal of the problem was important to break out.
I've replaced a couple iPhones for Home button issues and one for a battery, but that's it. I want to see how other "common" issues compare with this touchscreen controller issue.
We're accumulating data on other failures now.
As a point of fact for all, the 11 percent of all iPhone repairs in a day being related to the problem is from BEFORE the reports started circulating, not after. Like we said in the article, the surge in the last few days is likely because of media exposure, and the geniuses we spoke to expect it to go back to "normal" levels after the surge period is over.
According to ifixit, the root cause of the problem is the bending issue. The latter happens at the height of the volume buttons,exactly the place where the touch controllers are put and are getting bad soldering. In the iPhone 6s the touch controllers are moved to a different place, so no issue
So....do we all still believe the "only 9 phones were bent" argument from 2 years ago? The rabid apologists from then seem strangely silent now, or did they go away when Apple switched to a stronger alloy? Let's all take a moment to think back to that time the next time Apple and Tim make another assertion that seems incongruent with reality.
Mmmm. No one said that only 9 phones were bent. There were hundreds of reports and loads of videos of people giving themselves hernias while bending the phone. Apple said that it received nine complaints about bent phones. People who deliberately bend the phone or sit on it while it's in their back pocket are not going to report it.
If you mistreat it, pretty much any phone will break. Simple as that.
You are being a knee-jerk defend-at-all-costs-apologist. If I remember correctly, at least a couple of regular posters to this forum have mentioned that their iphones bent from simply being in their pocket. In another forum related to cars, in another country, I witnessed at least one post from someone, complete with photos, who had theirs bend just from being in their pocket. Just a few days after the release of the 6, a female journalist wrote a review in which she mentioned that her 6 bent when she sat down with her phone in her jeans pocket. None of these incidents involved the making of a Youtube video, intentional abuse, mistreatment or anything other than normal use one could expect.
So let dive right in, and let me share with you all the experience i had at the Apple store in Bridgewater New Jersey yesterday. My iPhone has been acting up for quite some time and I didn't know how to describe it. I noticed and read several posts here on apple insider on the issues with the grey band (top of screen) and unresponsive screen. Great articles in here on describing the issue exactly. So yesterday, like many of us hard core apple eco system users, made an appointment at the genius bar. Long story short, my genius bar lady very nice very cordial, really tried to help me. She did in fact, state that many customers have been coming in, and having their phones diagnosed, for what it appears to be "called the touch disease". I was shocked to hear from her own words, that even if i replaced the screen, the issue would remain. I feel handicapped, that i along with the rest of us, original IPhone 6 plus users, purchased the phone when it first came out. I was out of warranty, even though by her own words, this genius bar tech, did in fact state, that the issue is an INTERNAL HARDWARE issue, and my diagnostics has indeed failed. If i purchased the new iphone 6s, the issue would no longer remain. I am a loyal APPLE DIE HARD, own 7-9 devices, and yesterday that loyalty was put to the test. Why is it, that this genius bar tech, stated that the issue is hardware related, and that customers are starting to pour in complaining of this "TOUCH DISEASE", and apple does not do a thing about a device that appears to have a possible design flaw. So now us USERS- IPhone 6 plus owners now cannot receive a repair, cant get a new device, due to a design flaw, which now will cost us USERS additional money. While, i really appreciated this genius bar tech, honesty, i was truly disheartened. She did try to solicit that i buy another iphone because there is an ongoing issue with this "TOUCH DISEASE". Its annoying when my phone rings and i cant even answer it due to this flaw that appartrently happens over time. She tried to get me to fork over $329.00 for another replacement phone, but what's the use. Apple is supposedly coming out with a new phone next month, so i sit here with a current iphone that has a sporadic issue, identity crisis, until the new one comes to market. I didn't purchase the apple care program which i learned a very valuable lesson now to do so in the event that i decide to stay with an Iphone. It isn't fair, that design flaws aren't covered after the initial 12 months of hardware related issues surface. Maybe TIM COOK and the rest of his executive team realize that "TOUCH DISEASE" is a real issue, and support a universal replacement program or a possible recall. However, knowing Apple, this post will fall on deaf ears, be swept under the rug, and not much said about it. Great Products are suppose to last. Apple always states that they are committed to making great products--how about making great products that last past 24 months!!! I will truly miss my iPhone for now, anyone know how the new Galaxy phones compare to the iphone. I haven't been a HUGE SAMSUNG phone, and would hate to cross over to the "DARK SIDE", but with many hot promotions that are currently running on the Galaxy phones, and i cannot afford at this time a new phone. (And for the record, i have been an avid Iphone User since the original iphone) I did swallow the Apple KOOL-AID, and became heavily involved in Apples ecosystem. TIme will tell...Thanks Apple for 9 years of my loyalty. However, this experience has shaken my loyalty in the Iphone. I was hoping to anniversary 10 years of loyalty to the iphone next year. Looks like i may not make it.
Making the phone thin and weak to make it nice was stupid.
Tim Cook is not free from blame. Ultimately he's the top guy and needs to take the fall for this. I'm not saying he should be fired but he needs to get the blame.
Apple desperately needs a shake up at the top. I'm sorry but most of the top level guys seem lazy and comfortable.
I would fire Tim Cook personally, I know that isn't a popular opinion.
Fire Tim Cook because his soldering isn't up to snuff?
You're painfully transparent. You want Apple to do ANYTHING that will cause a short-term tickle in the stock price, even if it leads to long-term disaster for the company. Typical amateur investor thinking.
So let dive right in, and let me share with you all the experience i had at the Apple store in Bridgewater New Jersey yesterday. My iPhone has been acting up for quite some time and I didn't know how to describe it. I noticed and read several posts here on apple insider on the issues with the grey band (top of screen) and unresponsive screen. Great articles in here on describing the issue exactly. So yesterday, like many of us hard core apple eco system users, made an appointment at the genius bar. Long story short, my genius bar lady very nice very cordial, really tried to help me. She did in fact, state that many customers have been coming in, and having their phones diagnosed, for what it appears to be "called the touch disease". I was shocked to hear from her own words, that even if i replaced the screen, the issue would remain. I feel handicapped, that i along with the rest of us, original IPhone 6 plus users, purchased the phone when it first came out. I was out of warranty, even though by her own words, this genius bar tech, did in fact state, that the issue is an INTERNAL HARDWARE issue, and my diagnostics has indeed failed. If i purchased the new iphone 6s, the issue would no longer remain. I am a loyal APPLE DIE HARD, own 7-9 devices, and yesterday that loyalty was put to the test. Why is it, that this genius bar tech, stated that the issue is hardware related, and that customers are starting to pour in complaining of this "TOUCH DISEASE", and apple does not do a thing about a device that appears to have a possible design flaw. So now us USERS- IPhone 6 plus owners now cannot receive a repair, cant get a new device, due to a design flaw, which now will cost us USERS additional money. While, i really appreciated this genius bar tech, honesty, i was truly disheartened. She did try to solicit that i buy another iphone because there is an ongoing issue with this "TOUCH DISEASE". Its annoying when my phone rings and i cant even answer it due to this flaw that appartrently happens over time. She tried to get me to fork over $329.00 for another replacement phone, but what's the use. Apple is supposedly coming out with a new phone next month, so i sit here with a current iphone that has a sporadic issue, identity crisis, until the new one comes to market. I didn't purchase the apple care program which i learned a very valuable lesson now to do so in the event that i decide to stay with an Iphone. It isn't fair, that design flaws aren't covered after the initial 12 months of hardware related issues surface. Maybe TIM COOK and the rest of his executive team realize that "TOUCH DISEASE" is a real issue, and support a universal replacement program or a possible recall. However, knowing Apple, this post will fall on deaf ears, be swept under the rug, and not much said about it. Great Products are suppose to last. Apple always states that they are committed to making great products--how about making great products that last past 24 months!!! I will truly miss my iPhone for now, anyone know how the new Galaxy phones compare to the iphone. I haven't been a HUGE SAMSUNG phone, and would hate to cross over to the "DARK SIDE", but with many hot promotions that are currently running on the Galaxy phones, and i cannot afford at this time a new phone. (And for the record, i have been an avid Iphone User since the original iphone) I did swallow the Apple KOOL-AID, and became heavily involved in Apples ecosystem. TIme will tell...Thanks Apple for 9 years of my loyalty. However, this experience has shaken my loyalty in the Iphone. I was hoping to anniversary 10 years of loyalty to the iphone next year. Looks like i may not make it.
I couldn't read your post because it's one giant wall of text. try some paragraph breaks next time. each paragraph should focus on one concept comprised of related sentences.
Comments
The sample size of shops is too small to begin with, and a percentage of people coming in and reporting the problem (no doubt undergoing a surge in recent days as the issue has become widely reported) doesn't really tell us much without knowing how many of these phones are actually in use.
However, if the store gets one of these phones and it shows no other signs of damage then the store should replace it, warranty or not.
- Home button issues.
- Battery/charging issues.
- Volume rocker, ring/silent or sleep/wake/power button issues.
- Speaker/microphone issues.
- Screen issues (missing pixels).
I've replaced a couple iPhones for Home button issues and one for a battery, but that's it. I want to see how other "common" issues compare with this touchscreen controller issue.
If you mistreat it, pretty much any phone will break. Simple as that.
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/oh-no-samsungs-new-phone-bends-just-like-an-iphone/
I'm wondering if climate is a factor.
Cannot be repaired? What the heck is this? there are plenty of microsolderers in the U.S. That fix this problem all day every day. Go find one!
Lets think even harder---why do you think some refurbs have touch disease right out of the box? There are no reports of any bona fide new phones having the problem out of the box. And in our experience fixing these all day every day once a phone is fixed --by replacing the touch chips with a new set of the exact same touch chips--the problem doesn't come back as long as the board gets the futureproof shield mod.
so what makes most sense here? Apple
is taking in bent/dropped phones that are setups to have touch disease. They are harvesting those boards, popping them into new housings with new screen and battery and putting them back on the shelf. They are selling these bad boards for $329 to people turning in their phones for touch disease.
ie, they are taking your money and giving you back someone else's beat up board that is set
up to have the exact same problem you just paid them to "fix". And all the while they refuse to let you know that there are plenty of people out there that can *actually* fix the underlying problem.
For the sake of brevity in my repair business, I call various common signature problems by disease names. iPhone 6s gets backlight disease, 2011 MacBook gets GPU disease....
probably because in my old life I was an anatomy and physiology professor.
Im curious--what prompted you to collect data on touch issues in advance of the IFixit article?
So let dive right in, and let me share with you all the experience i had at the Apple store in Bridgewater New Jersey yesterday. My iPhone has been acting up for quite some time and I didn't know how to describe it. I noticed and read several posts here on apple insider on the issues with the grey band (top of screen) and unresponsive screen. Great articles in here on describing the issue exactly. So yesterday, like many of us hard core apple eco system users, made an appointment at the genius bar. Long story short, my genius bar lady very nice very cordial, really tried to help me. She did in fact, state that many customers have been coming in, and having their phones diagnosed, for what it appears to be "called the touch disease". I was shocked to hear from her own words, that even if i replaced the screen, the issue would remain. I feel handicapped, that i along with the rest of us, original IPhone 6 plus users, purchased the phone when it first came out. I was out of warranty, even though by her own words, this genius bar tech, did in fact state, that the issue is an INTERNAL HARDWARE issue, and my diagnostics has indeed failed. If i purchased the new iphone 6s, the issue would no longer remain. I am a loyal APPLE DIE HARD, own 7-9 devices, and yesterday that loyalty was put to the test. Why is it, that this genius bar tech, stated that the issue is hardware related, and that customers are starting to pour in complaining of this "TOUCH DISEASE", and apple does not do a thing about a device that appears to have a possible design flaw. So now us USERS- IPhone 6 plus owners now cannot receive a repair, cant get a new device, due to a design flaw, which now will cost us USERS additional money. While, i really appreciated this genius bar tech, honesty, i was truly disheartened. She did try to solicit that i buy another iphone because there is an ongoing issue with this "TOUCH DISEASE". Its annoying when my phone rings and i cant even answer it due to this flaw that appartrently happens over time. She tried to get me to fork over $329.00 for another replacement phone, but what's the use. Apple is supposedly coming out with a new phone next month, so i sit here with a current iphone that has a sporadic issue, identity crisis, until the new one comes to market. I didn't purchase the apple care program which i learned a very valuable lesson now to do so in the event that i decide to stay with an Iphone. It isn't fair, that design flaws aren't covered after the initial 12 months of hardware related issues surface. Maybe TIM COOK and the rest of his executive team realize that "TOUCH DISEASE" is a real issue, and support a universal replacement program or a possible recall. However, knowing Apple, this post will fall on deaf ears, be swept under the rug, and not much said about it. Great Products are suppose to last. Apple always states that they are committed to making great products--how about making great products that last past 24 months!!! I will truly miss my iPhone for now, anyone know how the new Galaxy phones compare to the iphone. I haven't been a HUGE SAMSUNG phone, and would hate to cross over to the "DARK SIDE", but with many hot promotions that are currently running on the Galaxy phones, and i cannot afford at this time a new phone. (And for the record, i have been an avid Iphone User since the original iphone) I did swallow the Apple KOOL-AID, and became heavily involved in Apples ecosystem. TIme will tell...Thanks Apple for 9 years of my loyalty. However, this experience has shaken my loyalty in the Iphone. I was hoping to anniversary 10 years of loyalty to the iphone next year. Looks like i may not make it.