Live data from Hacker News

A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

ifixit.org

81–90 of 209 posts

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except with the RROD Microsoft admitted the issue and provided a replacement or repair service. Apple are just ignoring the issue and leaving the customer suck up the cost and hassle.

Are they? My 20 month old (i.e. out of warranty and with no Applecare policy) iphone 6+ started showing the symptoms a week and a half ago. The "Genius" at the Apple Store immediately recognised the symptoms and processed a free replacement (refurbished) phone without any prompting or negotiation on my part. So while it's true that they are staying very quiet about it in public, it does seem that knowledge of the pro…

Your experience is an example of how capricious Apple's handling of the issue is. I walked in with a 14 month old phone in the exact same situation as yours, including the immediate identification of the problem by the Genius Bar rep, and I was told buy a new one. Period. No help, no willingness to help. Just buy a new one.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#82
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you'd have to make the hundreds of broken connections between the boards you split. So isn't that a really delicate ribbon cable?

Not really, you do the split according to functionality, not just a straight split. CPU/memory on one side, WiFi/BT/Baseband on the other.

So something like Google's project Aria that they just cancelled with separate modules for each function. Only not user serviceable.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#83
post #57
post #2

It's (speculated to be) flexing PCBs under BGA chips again. This is a serious problem when making devices thinner: they become more flexible, but the joints are not flexible, so after a while you get a crack all the way across a joint and it either becomes intermittent or capacitively coupled. A decade ago I had a white plastic-bodied Macbook which developed a similar fault in the graphics. But it's not just Apple, t…

It's reminiscent of the iBook G4 problems with cracking RoHS solder (caused by heat, not bending). Apple denied up them until the National Consumer Agency of Denmark investigated and produced this excellent report: https://web.archive.org/web/20071021235338/http://www.forbru... It happened to my computer. Apple delayed and denied and charged me, but wouldn't fix the problem. Eventually I gave up, but I've never bough…

Thermal cycling issue in macbook pro 17, 2011. After 3 years, I had to put the logic board into the oven for 10 minutes, ever month. After a year of that apple finally issued a service bulletin and replaced that board.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that both Bell Labs and PARC were owned and operated solely by large corporations (AT&T and Xerox, respectively). Do you have a source on government funding of either?

I Wouldn't be surprised if the DOD was the biggest customer for both.. "subsidy" doesn't mean they were owned or directly financed.

Exactly, the biggest research driver is military spending. Procurement is a huge way in which these companies were funded, eg the DOD bought 90% of computers in the 50's and 60's before they became viable as consumer devices in the late 70's.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#85
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seen as its a Californian company and most of the execs are very cargo pants-ish I also don't think they're designing products taking into account people in other parts of the world like to wear smarter skinnier fitting clothes.

Skinny jeans (comically, impractically skinny jeans even, IMO) are extremely common in California. Possibly even the norm, if there is a norm.

Isn't it largely an age thing? They started to catch on about 15 years ago so people under about 35 favor them.

(of course the preferences above and below that age aren't universal, but I think that's a reasonable dividing line.)

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#86
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let's be pessimistic and say that only 20% of people who have this problem get it repaired 20% of people taking their phone to a third-party repair shop sounds very high. I'd say a vast majority would take their phone to Apple, who say it can't be fixed and to buy a new phone.

No, because the 3rd-party shops are much, much cheaper than Apple's, and also more widely distributed. (Good luck finding an Apple store in or near a small town.)

Widely distributed sure, but it sounds like Apple is quietly handling this issue by providing the affected customers with refurbished phones at no charge.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#87
post #26

"but said Apple doesn’t recognize it as an issue" Oh, I am so glad we have laws in my country to prevent asshole companies from doing things like this. Goods that is "expected to last long" has a five year mandatory warranty here and mobiles are included. The rest has two years. It doesn't matter if they recognize it as an issue, the phone is broken period.

What country do you live?

Probably a small french city named: Aille-en-Faune-six

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#88
post #8

>“But the fact remains—compared to earlier iPhone models, the iPhone 6/6+ is kind of a ‘bendy’ phone. Its slim form factor and larger surface area subject the logic board within the phone to mechanical flexion pressure that no other iPhone has had to deal with[...]” Thank god they are rumoured to be making phones even slimmer then, _and_ getting rid of the headphone jack as well! Apple seems to be putting form ahead…

These days??? How quick we forget the iPhone 4 that didn't work as a phone when held due to shielding issues.

And for how long have they been making the guaranteed-to-fail power adapters with no strain reliefs?

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#89
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they? My 20 month old (i.e. out of warranty and with no Applecare policy) iphone 6+ started showing the symptoms a week and a half ago. The "Genius" at the Apple Store immediately recognised the symptoms and processed a free replacement (refurbished) phone without any prompting or negotiation on my part. So while it's true that they are staying very quiet about it in public, it does seem that knowledge of the pro…

Your experience is an example of how capricious Apple's handling of the issue is. I walked in with a 14 month old phone in the exact same situation as yours, including the immediate identification of the problem by the Genius Bar rep, and I was told buy a new one. Period. No help, no willingness to help. Just buy a new one.

So when I've gone in for service at an Apple Store, they always take my Apple ID down. I always wondered if those who buy more get better service. For example, the person who has a purchase history of four or five iPhones, a few iPods, and pair of iPads, and a few Apple laptops might have a better chance of getting an out of warranty fix than someone who has only ever purchased one or two iPhones. It always seemed like this would make sense because Apple wouldn't want to alienate its diehards. Just a theory...

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no free lunch. What are the trade-offs? Do you pay more for the same devices than in other countries?

This extended warranty thing is common throughout the EU (in the UK it's 6 years for example). In the UK we pay more than the US for most things but it's hard to pin down the exact reasons and price differences.

"..it's hard to pin down the exact reasons and price differences"

Generally it's down to VAT @ 20% and import duties, with some exchange rate padding.

Example:

Apple iPhone SE is £359 in the UK and $399 in the US.

As of 15:00 on 06/09, the $399 is ~£298. Add 20% VAT and you have ~£358.

EDIT: Exchange rates play a big part.

Post reply on HN