iPhone 4 Design Flaw Could lead on to Epidemic of Cracked iPhones [Iphone 4]

When the iPhone 4 free bumper program finished per week ago , Antennagate ended. But Ryan Block reports that the iPhone engineering team has discovered another major design flaw that would lead another iPhone 4 scandal.

While we’ve had our own concerns over the iPhone 4′s glass back, what the iPhone engineering team discovered post-Antennagate, in step with Block, is that non-bumper cases that slide onto the iPhone 4 could cause scratching when particles get between the case and the glass. Those scratches may end up in serious cracking very quickly.

So if somebody puts a slider case on their phone, there’s feasible the subsequent time they pull the phone out of the case, the back is absolutely busted, solely for this reason design flaw. The possible issue’s dire enough that Apple had blocked all third-party cases from the Apple Store until this week, even ones certified ” made for iPhone.” And Block hears that the engineering team has built a lab and test program to simply examine this problem.

Pulling cases from the shelves screws manufacturers who designed and built slide-on cases, and who pay Apple a cut-long rumored to be 10-15 percent-to get the Made for iPhone badge, which allows the cases to be sold in Apple Stores (a hotly desired retail channel, for obvious reasons). Block says they’re now ” all but dead inside the water,” and it’s possible they may not see their product back in Apple Stores at all. Apple’s not telling the manufacturers when or if it’ll happen. Within the meantime, slide-on cases are still sold elsewhere, and folks are still buying them, meaning we may very well be seeing lots of cracked iPhone 4s. (Besides all the clumsy people dropping them .)

Combined with the iPhone 4′s antenna flaw, loads of things make much more sense now. Why, partially, the bumper cases are designed the best way they may be. (There’s no contact with the glass back, and it covers the iPhone 4′s antenna .) Why there’s been a relative dearth of iPhone 4 accessories on shelves. And why the WSJ reports that the following iPhone could have a completely different form factor- to unravel the problems inherent to the iPhone 4′s design. Like Block says, don’t expect the subsequent iPhone to have a pitcher back. Or a weak point within the antenna. [ gdgt ]

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This post is tagged: apple stores, design flaw, engineering team, retail channel, test program