Fix iPhone 5 scratches with a $99 back plate replacement

15. PhenomFaz posted on 19 Oct 2012, 10:39 13

are you tellin me that this piece of junk got a $100 dollars costlier?
You've got to be friggin kiddin me

17. dickwyn posted on 19 Oct 2012, 10:52 9

now i know how they are earning the extra $$$. make ths iphone 5 easily scratched and ask customer to pay $100 for them to repair it to get scratched again its a never ending cycle

39. loli5 posted on 19 Oct 2012, 14:26 5

So that's why the drones like to say "urrduurrrr you dont like apple cuz u cant afford it lolduh".
Now it makes sense! Us "apple haters" can easily afford the phones, we're just not stupid enough to pay for constant repairs on apples fragile poorly made novelties.

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61. Droid_X_Doug posted on 20 Oct 2012, 13:29 1

Of course, the iP5 owners could invest in a case....

Good cases (Otterbox for example) run around $40 US and provide protection from the type of damage that dings/scratches the backplate. I was at a post office recently, and someone in line dropped their iP5. You could see (and hear) the phone skittering along the floor until it came to a stop. The look of pain on the owner's face was palpable as they went to retrieve their phone. When they picked up their phone, the pain changed to joy as the phone was working perfectly and any scratches were to the case the phone was sitting in.

Note to iP5 owners and prospective owners - get a case! Actually that applies to any phone owner. I have an Otterbox on my GS III.

64. GUNDAM posted on 21 Oct 2012, 06:22 1

otterbox commuter series for my gs3 :)

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66. Droid_X_Doug posted on 21 Oct 2012, 11:34 0

That (Commuter) is the case I have on my GS III. (Thumbup)

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65. loli5 posted on 21 Oct 2012, 11:06 0

Most dron-I mean iphone owners I sell to do not want a good case. They want pretty and....."fun"....cases that offer minimal to no protection, or no case at all because it "detracts from the natural beauty of the iphone" (that's an actual word for word quote).

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67. Droid_X_Doug posted on 21 Oct 2012, 11:37 0

And those owners who feel that a case detracts from the 'natural beauty' of the phone should not complain when their phones' natural beauty gets scratched....

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

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48. metalpoet (unregistered) posted on 19 Oct 2012, 17:30 2

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA​HAHAHAHAHAHA LMFAO! TAKE THAT APPLE DOU*HE BAGS!

55. PotDragon posted on 19 Oct 2012, 23:57 1

This actually did make me laugh...thanks.

Good thing PA posted a review already. If not....they may have had to actually take build quality into account. Durability? Eh....it worked for the 15 minutes the reviewer used it...scratch free. Good enough!

62. dnyalexander posted on 20 Oct 2012, 15:51 1

That's what irobots like, getting ripped off. Every iphone user spend thousands to repair their iphones, apple do this on purpose because they know itards will buy s**t if apple tell them is healthy.

22. haseebzahid posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:13 9

evenlty end up saling the house to keep the ip5 back scratch free :D

29. haywoodjiblowmi posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:37 1

Hahaha....you must live in a wooden box or a mud-hut or something. :D

59. haseebzahid posted on 20 Oct 2012, 11:46 0

this explains ur brain level enough said :P

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49. metalpoet (unregistered) posted on 19 Oct 2012, 17:32 1

Thats the plan for Apple Inc. Lets take everything from our consumers, lets take away choice of phone, take away choice of OS, and lets make them sell everything they own to have this stupid phone just because it is a status symbol lol

54. maier9900 posted on 19 Oct 2012, 21:55 1

Nobody's forcing you to buy an iPhone nor to replace anything. Non sense comments.!

60. haseebzahid posted on 20 Oct 2012, 11:51 0

and yes 100$ for a back cover are u by any chance thinking it is ok to price a piece of aluminium that high lets compare with something other then mobile.. ahh i can get top of the line gaming grade mouse headphones under 100$ which is more then which are much more then a pice of metal Apple really got over their heads with this one now

58. devildlm1 posted on 20 Oct 2012, 09:05 2

yo dawg, i heard you scratched your iPhone 5 metal frame again

so i got you this replacement for your replacement so you can make your iPhone scratch free while you make it scratch free

12. dsDoan posted on 19 Oct 2012, 10:17 3

Isn't that why they encased a previous model entirely in glass?

34. iamfury posted on 19 Oct 2012, 12:14 1

well it seems like it, specially after this particular offering.

27. troutsy posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:25 1

I don't see how you could make this for $5. Casting, machining, inserts, injection molding, anodizing(?), and then the scrap cost from pieces that don't make it into assemblies.

If it costs $10-20 and they're marking it up 500-1000% it's not an unusual business practice for service parts.

It still doesn't excuse them from designing a crumby part in the first place...

50. metalpoet (unregistered) posted on 19 Oct 2012, 17:34 5

It only costs them $5 because its made in china, mexico, or india. and $5 in those places is alot more. Plus i swear they pay people their in beatings....."you made a replacement replacement piece for the peice we originally made! great job! now here is your daily whipping!"

23. NexusKoolaid posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:16 4

Actually, no it's not. Scratches affect all kinds of things from call quality to data speeds and even GPS accuracy. Apps run slower, you end up with less memory, it makes your phone prone to hackers, and in Angry birds the pigs take on an odd shade of green and the yellow birds don't fly as fast or straight. Man, if you're iPhone is scratched you've just GOT to get that back panel replaced.

32. vignesh_viggs posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:50 2

You Don't Say(MEME)

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Apple-might-have-been-aware-about-easy-to-scratch-iPhone-5_id34808

Get 1 back panel a day for Iphone 5 with $99

- Keeps away from other mobile brands..

10. dandare808 posted on 19 Oct 2012, 10:12 2

mkay,


maybe learn to read before posting..................

14. ZayZay posted on 19 Oct 2012, 10:33 0

What am I missing. The article does not flat out say "If your phone came out of box damaged, Apple will fix it for free." I believe I know how to read just fine, just a clear definition isn't posted in this article. Thanks though

26. loli5 posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:23 0

"Sure, in case your unit was damaged out of the box, Apple will send you a replacement, but in case you caused the dents yourself by accident, you will be left holding on to an imperfect piece of high-end gadgetry."

Second sentence. F*cks sake...

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28. haywoodjiblowmi posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:31 1

LMFAO..... really? You REALLY believe you know how to read just fine?

I guess "believe" is the key word, here!!

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13. dsDoan posted on 19 Oct 2012, 10:20 3

One shouldn't have to purchase additional accessories in order to counter a design/manufacturer defect.

30. haywoodjiblowmi posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:40 0

So all other phones are scratch and dent resistant without a case?

33. dsDoan posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:56 2

Compared to the terrible aluminum used on Apple's latest phone? Yes.

I much prefer my "cheap plastic" (polycarbonate) casing, with which I can walk around all day with my phone and keys in the same pocket, and my phone come out scratch-free.

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52. haywoodjiblowmi posted on 19 Oct 2012, 21:06 0

Well my original iphone 1st gen to this day has no scratches on the metal body (OTOH, the chrome is another story), my previous i4 looks the same as it was out of the box, and my current sgs3 near the att logo has 2 or 3 scrapes near the at&t logo (but white only shows it in light glare).

Now if apple has moved away from the original metal from gen1 then maybe, but the display model ive seen at the local at&t store that everyone handles has no issues. I lean on the side of factory mis-handling or bad batches, like my day one sgs3 (which was a actually a replacement s3 from best buy due to a defective screen) that has small area gaps between the glass and the frame and a back cover (that yourself might label "design flaw" because of the non-exact fit to the phone itself) that has space between sides of the phone and the edge of the back cover, like its a bit to small.

But neither of those things are affecting me enjoying my s3 or affecting it doing what its supposed to do as they are annoying cosmetic issues at best....

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53. dsDoan posted on 19 Oct 2012, 21:32 0

I was only referring to the latest iPhone. I don't recall scratch-prone issues on previous models. I'm not so sure that it's a bad batch or mis-handling. A Foxconn official stated that the material coating the device would cause it to be scratch-prone, indicating that both Apple and Foxconn knew about the issue beforehand.

The decal on the Galaxy S 3 is a manufacturing error at management level, in my opinion. It should have been placed on the case before the glossy coating.

P.S. I'd call a gap between glass and frame a manufacturing defect, because it wasn't properly assembled the way it was designed.

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40. loli5 posted on 19 Oct 2012, 14:29 1

Apparently. The HTC One-S has an aluminum unibody, haven't heard of a single case of the finish scratching or rubbing off. Must be that cheap inferior android construction, everyone knows the most expensive products are delicate as all hell right?

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18. CDGMobile posted on 19 Oct 2012, 10:54 2

The saying shouldn't be stop being cheap, it should be stop being sheep. Stop letting Apple run your wallets folks.

21. Savage posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:12 2

Oh yeah. Whats another 99 bucks? To hide Apple's glaring mistakes, iFans like you would gladly pay, not 99 but 999 dollars.

35. NexusKoolaid posted on 19 Oct 2012, 13:33 1

So if you bought a new Lexus and the paint peels off and costs $2000 to fix, do you think you shouldn't complain because you already paid $30000 for the car?

Dude, you are a salesman's dream! The rest of us - we expect better for the money we spend.

38. NexusKoolaid posted on 19 Oct 2012, 14:08 0

Sorry about that - a scratched back panel must have disabled my sarcasm detection device, LOL.

43. loli5 posted on 19 Oct 2012, 14:56 1

LMAO, it always makes me laugh and then a little sad hearing crap like that. That's why apple gets away with it, you folks are so brainwashed and conditioned that you wouldn't care if the thing came out of the box and slapped your mothers.
"What is another $99" give me a f*cking break dude. $99 isnt a tremendous amount of money by any means, but it's the principle.

45. NexusKoolaid posted on 19 Oct 2012, 15:53 0

Relax - it's sarcasm.

46. loli5 posted on 19 Oct 2012, 16:21 1

That was actually adressed to sudbury not you. We're on the same page, you and I.

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31. haywoodjiblowmi posted on 19 Oct 2012, 11:47 0

What carrier gives you free replacement back, bcus my gs3 needs one.

Mine came with a back cover that looks like someone washed it in hot water cus it has a gaps around fit on the phone.

56. wumberpeb posted on 20 Oct 2012, 00:56 1

Any store that does service and repair would have an extra. Generally you don't need to send back the battery doors with the bad phone being sent out, so I hoard them at my sprint store

37. chaoticrazor posted on 19 Oct 2012, 13:58 2

'' all mighty iconic iphone5''

your so up apple it must be dark in there

so considering your only 2 reasons to have an iphone left - the design and easy to use. your gonna loose on the design by covering it in a case. the differance is between the iphone and other phones is the iphone actuallt needs a case if you dont want a scratched dented piece of expensive disappointment