This is not a drop test. This is the first iPhone 4 that breaks after a simple accident that anyone may have: A 0.5m drop.
The back of it completely shattered. I’m convinced that this will be the first of many broken iPhone 4s. It appears to be functioning correctly but the glass needs to be replaced. At the Genius Bar they said they don’t have any replacement phones or parts yet and we had to make an appt for Friday (they still don’t have any insight into procedures for this situation but said to come in anyway). Hopefully they replace it for free. I’ve dropped my 3g from far higher without causing any breaks. This was the damage after about a foot fall.
I love Apple, I really do, but for a company renown for superb SCM practices, they fell short here… shipping early without procedures and/or parts in stock.
Unlike the drop test, this was a full phone from the factory. When I asked Jared about what where the circumstances, he said it just “trickled down about a foot while getting out of the car”.
An industry insider recently pointed at the probable causes for easy glass shattering and chipping. While we are investigating his claims, here is one piece of advice: Try not to drop your iPhone on other glass surfaces. That and remember to buy a bumper and/or insurance. [Jared Franklin]
Steve-O
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 8:12 AMStupid clumsy f***. What the hell is it with these retards dropping their damn phones? When you buy a new TV do you immediately throw your remote at the screen just to see what will happen?! NO! Why is a phone any damn different.
And for those who are claiming “these things are a true test of what happens in daily life”? Bullsh*t. Stop kidding yourself. You’re a clumsy d*ck and you need to learn to take care. Damn. Stupidity.
Superintendent Chalmers.
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 10:29 AMWow! Someone took his grumpy pill this morning! Potty-mouth!
However you look at it, the damn phone shouldn’t break so easily. It’s crap. Throw this UNACCEPTABLE fragility in with all the other problems that are being encountered with the sooper-dooper iPhutt and you have to conclude that Jobby has taken you all for a ride…
Brock Taffe
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 11:32 AMI think somebody is just a apple hater (Superintendent Chalmers)
boc
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 3:07 PM@Brock Taffe
He’s *an* Apple hater for pointing out the truth?
I didn’t realise being critical of Apple was forbidden.
Brock Taffe
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 4:03 PM@boc No, just when he said “It’s crap”
Pat
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 12:02 PMHe was getting out of his car and he dropped it. It looks to me from the photos that the phone, while it didnt fall far, landed on the corner, the weakest part, so a bit of bad luck there, but still I think its fair to expect a phone to survive that small a fall.
Yes it was clumsy. Yes it was stupid. But are you going to tell me you have never – not once – dropped your phone? I know I have. People drop phones, it happens
boc
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 3:03 PMIs it really that hard for you to believe that people accidentally drop their phones?
I bought a HTC Desire at dropped it twice in the first month.
First I put the phone on my jacket, forgot it was there, lifted my jacket to put it on, and phone when from my jacket that was on the table onto a carpeted floor.
Second time was when I put the phone on my lap in the car. Forgot it was there, got out of the car, the phone dropped onto asphalt.
Mate, this kind of stuff happens all the time. I read a report on iPhone repairs and the single biggest issue? Broken screens from *dropped* iPhones at 65%.
I bet if a study was done across all mobile devices you would see a hell of a lot of people dropping their devices.
Drop you’re overreacting nonsense. It makes you look foolish and immature.
Bruno
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 8:24 AMinteresting to notice in the last image, that he is using a white iPhone 4 to take pictures of his broken black iPhone 4 lol
Heath
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 9:08 AMIt’s not an white iPhone 4, it’s a white 3G/3GS. You can see the curving of the edges and no metallic boarder, and the obvious one that the white phone doesn’t have a LED flash hole.
Simon Reidy
Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 4:24 AMNot to mention it’s widely known that the white iPhone 4 isn’t available from anywhere yet.
Cody
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 10:23 AMI feel sorry for him. To Steve-O, I think it is probably clumsy to drop it so soon, but on the other hand I’ve dropped my N95 about 3 times over the past 2 years, so it’s pretty inevitable.
Cody
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 10:26 AMOh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention is, I’ve dropped an LG U880 (luckily near the end of my contract) and it smashed and cleaved into two pieces and was unfixable. It was plastic.
I’ve dropped an old Nokia N73 in the past (my favourite phone look ever, not sure why, just liked the shape and weight and colours). It didn’t break.
It probably has a lot to do with luck, like what height, angle, and speed it hits at. But my point that nobody seems to mention is that the older plastic phones can shatter just as easily as glass. However I think the more recent smart phones are more dense in the plastic and less likely to break.
(My friend bought an HTC Desire a few weeks ago and dropped it in the first few days, it was fine).
Superintendent Chalmers.
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 12:14 PMThe Superintendent is NO iphone hater. Why, Mrs. Chalmers has a 3Gs that I secretly covet. I do believe however that Apple has bitten off more than it could chew with this launch and call me an old cynic but MARKETING has a hell of a lot to do with Apple’s success. Yes, the design of 4 is beautiful but placing a metal band around two sheets of glass with NOTHING to absorb shock in the event of a drop, is plain daft.
Lukian
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 9:39 PM“I love Apple, I really do, but for a company renown for superb SCM practices, they fell short here… shipping early without procedures and/or parts in stock.”
Were the bumpers in stock? If so, you should have purchased one.
Mordd
Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 11:08 PMThe thing with older plastic mobile phones though was that you could put them back together and a bit of sticky tape and they still worked fine normally. Its almost like they are designed to shatter like car parts or something are, bump your car into something at 5km and you are paying 2 grand for a new bumper bar these days, drop a modern expensive smartphone these days without a case and you are buying yourself a new phone.
Personally when I got my nokia E63 i bought 2 rubber cases for it as well as screen protectors, it might only be a $200 phone (got a deal on it) but ill be dammed if im breaking it due to not spending 15 bucks on a rubber case, saved the damm things more times than I care to think about, is it really that hard to spend up to 50 bucks on a case for a phone that costs you 500 to 1000 dollars in the first place?