iPhone 'Dead Spot' Discovered Between Analyst's Ears

Reports of dead spots in the iPhone’s touchscreen are migrating from Apple’s support forums to Wall Street.

In a research note to clients today, Nomura International analyst Richard Windsor suggested that the problem could become more widespread. “Windsor explained that the screen of the iPhone uses a chemical deposition to provide touch sensitivity based on heat,” MarketWatch reports. “The international property rights for this technology, he said, were purchased from a bankrupt Finnish company that was trying to make a similar device. But that company encountered the problem that with extensive use, the film would begin to degrade and the screen would lose its sensitivity. Windsor said the problem typically manifested itself within three to six months. While Apple should have been aware and fixed the problem, the broker said, only time will confirm that all is well with that touchscreen.”

An interesting theory, but one that should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt. As some observers have noted, Windsor hasn’t quite gotten his facts straight. “… There’s no film over the iPhone screen glass, and the touchscreen sensor senses capacitance, not heat,” a commenter on the Tech Trader Daily Blog explained. “There’s obviously a manufacturing defect in a small percentage of the screens–not a problem with the phone itself. Nobody who has looked at the iPhone tear down pictures could possibly assert that the phone isn’t built to be durable.”

Said another, “The only ‘dead spot’ is between Richard Windsor’s ears.”