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A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

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Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#151

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

wcunning wrote: post #72
Synaesthesia wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main reason why "cool stuff" is made in America is because of massive government subsidy to the computer industry in the 50's, 60's and thanks to publically funded research (Bell labs, PARC etc). Again in the 80's under Reagan there was big investment in the computer industry as they recognized that Japan was starting to take the lead in tech industry.

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?

PARC is heavily DARPA-funded today. In the 70s, PARC hoovered up a lot of Stanford grads who had been working on government funded projects at SRI. It's unlikely PARC would have been as successful without them.

Bell Labs was independent, but there are similar indirect links - lots of freshly minted PhDs cutting their teeth on government funded research, then moving into industry.

Government seed funding was directly responsible for the Whirlwind and TX series projects, for IBM's SAGE system, for the work of important consultancies like Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, and the various ACs (Illiac, Multivac, etc) all of which laid the foundations of modern computing.

IBM, DEC, and eventually Apple and MS productised that work, but it simply wouldn't have happened without government support.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#152

Post by tuna-piano »

gerbilly wrote: 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…

It frustrates me to no end. I (and I assume many others) would instantly upgrade my iPhone if the next iPhone was thicker but had 2x the battery life. That would be a real improvement in my life.

But they'll probably come out with one about the same size, with ~10% more battery life due to software and hardware changes - and call it a great increase.

They even realize the battery thing is a problem, so Apple, the manufacturer of the hardware and the design geniuses, come out with a monstrous, hideous battery case, instead of just improving the underlying hardware. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MGQL2LL/A/iphone-6s-smart-...

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#154

Post by givinguflac »

mhb wrote: post #88
xedarius wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

While anecdotal, I have a charger from a 2006 MBP that has no fraying at all and is in great working order with a MagSafe 2 adapter. I've beaten the crap out of it too and travelled a ton with it. It's a bit dirty looking, but not damaged and perfectly functional, especially for a 10+ year old charger.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#155

Post by givinguflac »

I agree it sucks they aren't just covering it for people. However, I have a launch 6+ that I've beat the crap out of and sat on tons of times. It has not bent even a little and I'm a big person. I've also had no touch screen issues. Obviously YMMV but I've literally stepped on the thing by accident, dropped it down a pile of rocks at the beach, and other unintended abuse with no issues at all.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#156

Post by kesselvon »

wildmusings wrote: post #145
reitanqild wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, looking at Apples stock performance I'd easily say that this is just about demanding normal decency from Apple. They come to Europe to sell phones and we demand that they compete on the same terms as anyone else here. Edit: > they're likely on the hook for many millions of dollars of repairs with this issue in the article in the EU. They can expect no mercy ;-) They are big enough that they should know abou…

That's all fine and dandy, but it isn't free. That's the point I'm making.

Apple made $7.6 billion USD in net income in the last quarter; I'm pretty sure they have plenty to cover the cost of repairs because of poor manufacturing quality.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#157

Post by JoeAltmaier »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #134
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is Apple because they put design ahead of engineering. Always have. Its why they sell well. Nothing new here.

Apple's engineering is good too, it enables them to actually deliver on those designs.

...except for the OP's whole point - they break easy.

For instance, cords. There's never been a load coil on their cords, because they look clunky. So they are noisy as heck. Their cords have no strain relief - again because it looks clunky. So their cords are the #1 replacement item due to breaking all the time right at the connector.

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#158

Post by UlyssesSKrunk »

lukeholder wrote: post #24

I had this same issue with my iPhone 6 Plus screen not responding to touch as this article explains. Took it into Apple in Perth City (Western Australia) and they replaced the iPhone on the spot with a brand new refurbished. This article leads with a story about apple denying it to a customer, but I had my issue resolved within 25 minutes including running a last minute icloud backup. Apples legendary support is real…

>with a brand new refurbished

Uh...

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#159

Post by mangeletti »

I wonder why this is being flagged (moved like 15 positions down in 3 minutes).

@dang - is worth looking into whether there is a pattern to the flagging of this post (i.e., IP addresses from a certain company in Cupertino, pattern of other negative Apple PR being flagged by the same users, etc.)?

Re: A Design Defect Is Breaking iPhone 6 Pluses

#160

Post by chenster »

abakker wrote: post #83
rwmj wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I used a hair dryer on high and that worked really well until Apple issues official replacement.
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