John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Scratch ’N’ Bitch: Apple SVP Says iPhone 5 Scuffs Are Normal

Apple hasn’t yet officially addressed reports that its new iPhone 5 is more susceptible to scratches, scuffs and nicks than its predecessor, despite mounting complaints. But unofficially a company executive has remarked on it and doesn’t seem all that concerned.

In an email exchange obtained by 9to5Mac, Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller tells an iPhone 5 owner that the scuffs and nicks he’s seeing on the chamfered edges of his device are not an anomaly, but simply the result of typical wear and tear.

“Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color,” Schiller wrote in a message that sources tell AllThingsD is authentic. “That is normal.”

And Schiller does have a point. Because aluminium is not as hard as stainless steel, it’s more likely to show wear more quickly. So while the iPhone 5 might be rugged as all hell, cosmetically it’s a little more delicate.

But what’s not normal is to find scuffs and scratches on brand new iPhones right out of the box. And there seem to be a fair number of new iPhone 5 owners reporting just that. Three AllThingsD staffers received iPhones in such condition. Schiller didn’t address that at all. Presumably that’s a quality control issue and one that should be addressed quickly if it hasn’t been resolved already.

Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.

[Image credit: iFixit]

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December 30, 2013 at 6:49 am PT

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December 29, 2013 at 2:12 pm PT

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December 29, 2013 at 5:58 am PT

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December 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm PT

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I think the NSA has a job to do and we need the NSA. But as (physicist) Robert Oppenheimer said, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you’ve had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”

— Phil Zimmerman, PGP inventor and Silent Circle co-founder, in an interview with Om Malik