Projected iPhone 4 accident rate | Source: SquareTrade
Posted on 01/29/2011 11:19:26 PM PST by Swordmaker
A California man became so angry after his daughter dropped his iPhone 4 and cracked its glass enclosure that he filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple alleging that its most recent handset design is defective.
In the complaint filed earlier this week, Los Angeles resident Donald LeBuhn claims that Apple has known for months that its industrial design of the iPhone 4 is defective but has failed to warn customers that normal use of the device can lead to a broken phone.
More specifically, LeBuhn said that he paid over $250 in September for a new iPhone 4 only to have it rendered essentially useless after his daughter dropped it from a height of roughly three feet while attempting to send a text message.
In the suit, he claims to have owned an iPhone 3GS that fell from a similar height but did not break. As such, he's calling bologna on the Cupertino-based company's marketing claims that the iPhone 4 glass as "20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic," and is "ultradurable" having been made from the same material as the "glass used in helicopters and high-speed trains."
"Months after selling millions of iPhone 4s, Apple has failed to warn and continues to sell this product with no warning to customers that the glass housing is defective," LeBuhn's attorneys wrote in the complaint.
The suit comes a little over three months after third-party warranty provider SquareTrade issued a report stating that in its first four months on market, the iPhone 4 was seeing a reported accident rate that was 68% higher than the iPhone 3GS, primarily the result of broken screens.
A followup report from the same firm a month later claimed that while the iPhone 4 outperformed all other leading smartphones when it came to reported malfunctions, it also appeared to be more accident-prone. As such, SquareTrade projected the handset would have the highest accidental damage rate after 12 months of all smartphones at roughly 13.8 percent, possibly due to its two sides of glass.
With his lawsuit this month, LeBuhn has asked the court to mandate that Apple refund the purchase price of the iPhone 4 to all similarly situated class members, to reimburse customers for any repair fees they've paid, and to further compensate customers for their "overpayment" in purchasing a defective product.
sue for false advertising. Apple is definately guilty of it. Its no where strong/durable than plastic. It does break fairly easy when you drop it
i held off buying iphone4 specifically because I knew the glass is not as good as advertised. You could very easily, pay $900 for the phone and then break it the next day
He didn’t install the iLevitation app.
It’s a phone for crying out loud. You need to take care of it. Don’t drop it dumb ass.
This glass is... it's Corning® Gorilla Glass... have you ever dropped a Corning ware bowl?
Replacement glass only costs around $15. Doesn’t the eejit know how to wield a screwdriver?
It wasn't the fall that killed his I-Phone, it was the sudden stop!
Dunno what type of screwdriver my husband used to replace his glass. He said it wasn’t a big deal to replace.
Glass is the one of the main reasons why I prefer Apple’s wares over that of the others.
Combined with the advantage of a beautifully flat, glossy, scratch-resistant screen, the optical clarity is unbeatable. Plastic simply cannot match. These advantages alone are significant enough to persuade an owner to take extra care of such glassy products.
Plastic displays may accommodate a more diverse variety in terms of shape, but the crisp, neat and clean bevelled edges of the glass that Apple uses more than makes up for the inability to sculpt glass into funky, tacky shapes.
An additional disadvantage plastic poses is the formation of moulding artifacts - this is clearly visible when you hold any plastic screen product in polarised light. Glass doesn’t suffer as much, if even.
If Apple switches over to plastic because of this stupid lawsuit, it will be a loss for excellent functional and industrial design.
No he’s too stupid, he’s just a loser who is looking for $$$$.
Aaaah.. just read about the screwdriver. I ordered that screwdriver when I purchased my 2009 macbook pro. I suspect he used my screwdriver. I paid $6 for it; so make that $15 + $6 = $21.
Sounds like another tort lawyer at work.
Dropped my (first generation) iPhone in the toilet the other day. Immediately pulled it out, shook out whatever water would come out with a tapping, and taped the bottom of the phone to my shop vac and let the sucker run for twenty minutes.
Then stuck the phone into a bag of rice for several hours. Yes, I discarded the rice after I pulled out the phone.
Even though the phone’s screen was blinking like it was about to explode after I pulled it out of the loo, and even though its screen showed evidence of water between the glass and the lcds for hours after insertion into the rice, I am pleased to report that it now works like nothing bad has happened to it at all.
I love my iPhone. And I’m a PC desktop kind of guy...
They can't be that stupid, can they?
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