Donald LeBuhn Files Class Action Lawsuit in LA Against Apple: Says iPhone 4 Glass Casing Sucks and is Not as Strong as Apple Advertises

Pitufo

I want to join!!!!

Davecowley1

My front glass has cracked twice now falling approx 2 feet onto carpet with a screen film on...

Surely when designing a mobile phone, the fact that it is "mobile" would have some bearing on the durability of the design such that it is fit for purpose. All mobile phones should be designed to allow for minor drops and falls being that they are being put in and out of a pocket all day.

This is the worst phone i have ever owned for durability. I was that annoyed, I repeated the fall with a wine glass out of interest and that did not break...

Apple you absolute jokers...

the whole genius bar nonsense is a joke too... hi i've broken my phone, can you take a look please? "No sorry, you will have to make an appointment and come back in 3 days" what a load of tish...

peel 520

Hi,I was not aware that such problem is occurring in such sets.. I am glad I visited here and come to know about it.. I will keep it in my mind while purchasing..

Omnipace

What is the status of the case any one? My front screen was broken dropping from lap height while leaving the car. As living in turkey the cost was 1000$ (you are so lucky to have replacements for 200$ by the way) from the service for a replacement phone. They say they won't repair it. If the law suit goes good, I can make another one in my country to stop this madness...

ly66

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D.Smithee

Form over function: the Apple way.

IncredibleTulip

Right. Let me make this point: Does the iPhone 4 have any kind of age restriction on it? Does Apple advise that people under five-years-old shouldn't play with it? Besides that fact, normal use is drastically different from real-world use. Normal use should be defined as 'optimal use' or something similar.

Think about it.

Normal use: the phone never gets dropped in it's lifetime. Real-world use: the phone WILL be dropped. Not intentionally of course, but merely because phones - like many other devices - slip out of the hand with some form of regularity. Older phones can withstand numerous drops over many years without any kind of issues occurring at any point during said years. I know comparing a Nokia 3310 to an iPhone is like comparing an apple to an Audi but you get my point.

Take for example, Dell laptops, Acer notebooks even. They have free-fall sensors integrated within, and even shock-absorption devices. Yet they are computers. They may get dropped and they may still be fine afterwards. So why can't an iPhone be the same? The reality is that technology gets dropped. It should be able to withstand that if it is to endure real-world use.

Q.R.Q.

I have a 32gb iphone because i can afford it. I have the $69 Apple care because its wise to do considering the cost of the iphone. I am careful with it. I dont allow my nieces to play with it....I have am android for that.

Guest

I hate all you fanboys. Be it Apple, Sony, Nvidia, ATI, MS, etc. I hate you all. If you only had the capability to think for yourselves.

a user77

this retard who let his daughter dropped the iphone4 and now suing apple for it needs to get his brain checked. you f*ck tard, Apple never claimed that you could drop your phone at ANY height and the glass would not break..they said the glass is made of gorilla glass and it is true that the glass is many times stronger than regular glass and plastic. you retards around, plastics don't break at 3ft or whatever..plastic's composition is different from glass so of course your lame-arse plastic phones don't break.

@Donald, get a f*cking life.. you allowed your daughter to play with your expensive toy, so take responsibility for it. I hope Apple counter-sue your arse. Also, you seem like to drop phones alot, do you have parkinson disease? you must have shaky hands, if that is the case, don't play or use expensive electronic devices

Guest

Check yourself you dimwit... Apple (and many, many others) is misleading people with their carefuly worded advertising - pure and simple.

kamuscasio

I dropped my cheap nokia n8 from a running bicycle, onto the road. And it's fine.Because it has REAL gorilla glass. Not some hyped and false-advertised glass like Apple has. Meanwhile 2 of my friends with iPhone 4 have broken theirs. One from dropping at work, and one from dropping on stairs. Too bad.

Dimitriosborn

Um the same thing happened to my iPhone. Fell out of my jacket broke the front and back glass. I just have to either pay for a new one or get it fixed. People are so bored with their lives they have to find any excuse to complain and sue someone! Stop being an idiot and just shell out the $ for a new iPhone or pay $175 to get it fixed. I'm sure he is asking for the phone cost and pain and suffering compensation as well. Lol

Pjhusser

He should go to Fraudbug (http://www.fraudbug.com) and file his complaint there as well. They seem to be able to make consumer complaints fairly public. Whether this guy 'accidentally' drops all his phones at three feet or not, I know the sales guy that sold me my iPhone 4 (even though I went to go get one because I already wanted one) kept trying to resell me in the fact that it had 'Gorilla Glass' =/ I also know these devices are fairly fragile. Whatever the case, it's obvious his intent is monetary gain. AT&T should have just given him a new phone. Oh well, I guess that is what you get when you have corporations thinking they run the world =/

RockinRocky

Lemme see... He let the chance of THIS phone breaking when it was, um, dropped, (?), about 3feet, and this was after his previous phone was, um, dropped, (?), about 3 feet... Hmmmm, seems like this guy likes dropping phones about 3 feet! And now he wants to be PAID for it?!?!??? And these are items that cost ??? Almost makes me think HE was dropped about 3 feet on his head in the delivery room when he was born!! A case of Drain Bramage!

Carlton Flowers

I dropped my iPhone 4 from a height of 2.5' and shattered the front digitizer. My phone is still operable, but I have a nice set of sprawling ugly cracks to look at each and every day. It is absolutely ludicrous (as usual) for Apple to stand behind the claims that the glass is 20x stronger than plastic. How and why do we let companies this large make such ridiculous false product claims? I'm not an advocate for big government intervention in the business world, but this would clearly be a case where it would be appropriate for someone to intervene and stand up for all of those who paid their hard earned money only to quickly discover that the company's claims are far-fetched.

fredric

If anyone watched David Pogue's show on PBS last week, the first episode dealt with things such as material strength. The point was made that there is a difference between "strength", and other qualities such as "toughness" and "shatter resistance".

DLPenterprise

I threw my phone off the roof and it cracked, oh why doesn't Apple fix it for free!!!! You but a glass table and drop a brick on it its gonna smash, should you sue the table company or the brick maker? This guys an idiot and every one else who's posting that they too dropped their phone and its Apple's fault. Guess what in case you don't know already little electronic devices are fragile, laptops aren't waterproof, and most importantly you can't breath underwater.

Gary

Just don't drop your iPhone 4.

GetRealLoser

Moron.

Isaac Goldstein

Not be be a "fanboy" here, but the glass that Apple uses in the iPhone 4 is stronger than ANY other front glass panel being manufactured to date. Even if you compare it to the Nexus S, the iPhone 4 still has a more durable front panel.

LeBuhm (pun intended) is taking a consumer reports statistic, and blowing it out of proportion for his own monetary gain. Why is anyone supporting this egomaniacal behavior?

kamuscasio

Compare that to REAL gorilla glass. Come on. Nexus s is regular glass. Have you read any news of people complaining cracked screens on a nokia N8, or Samsung Galaxy S?

Guest

How is he getting monetary gain? He is seeking a refund of purchase and repair. And wow, the apple fanboy crowd is thick in here. To the guy who stated that the iPhone is a small computer and does your $1000.00 computer take a 3-4 ft drop well. How about this: I'm siting at my desk and get startled, my foot jerks and kicks my computer slightly. Should I expect that little bit of shock to do nothing or cause my motherboard to pop out and ruin my pc?

A 3-4 ft drop is a common thing for a mobile phone to go through and should have been tested for durability. Apple on the other hand wants you buy buy buy so they don't care to make it durable. Same thing with their laptops. Why do you think its darn near impossible to replace a battery in Macbook? They don't want you to replace the battery, they want you to buy a new laptop. People need to get off the Apple koolaid and realize that their idol Jobs is fleecing them.

Karmakaze

But Apple didn't say it was stronger than glass, they said it was stronger than plastic. Plastic phones don't break when you drop them 3 feet.

HemiYemi

LOL, would he like some cheese with that whine? What a whine baby.

www.privacy-tools.au.tc

fairlane32

Seems to me if you've got the $$$ to spend on an iPhone, you should also have the $$$ to buy their Protection Plan, (unless it doesn't cover the glass?) Then if it breaks because someone drops it, you just get it repaired, no? Isn't that why it is called insurance, like for your car? :D

I was prostitutioned

if you're insecure and want people to be interested in you or your shiny object, buy an iphone.

if you want a phone that won't break when you drop it, buy a nokia.

nokia does extensive wear tests. go look around youtube. they build them like little tanks.

robblef

should've bought an android. lol

clamchop

HAHA Apple and your smoke and mirros device.

Liketoread

Since when is dropping it "normal use"? Get real, dude.

I was prostitutioned

i drag my phone around on a pillow that i pull behind me. anyone that does stupid shit like putting their phone in their pocket (3 feet off the ground!!!!) deserves what they get.

people that drop their phones should be forbidden from owning one.

CharlesT

Lets see, I pay $250 for a devices that forces me to have a 2 year contract worth $2,400 more. Why can't this company create a phone that can take that drop? Why is it not water poof too? That is a lot of money for something you carry around everywhere without expecting to drop it.

None

And that's why they make otter boxes. For clumsy people that drop their phones. It's not apples people drop their phones. I've dropped mine a couple times and it's never broke. Either side. And if it did I'd pay for my mistake. Simple as that.

Dave.

An iPhone is basically a pocket sized computer. Why is your $1000 computer not waterproof? Does your computer take a 3-4 foot drop pretty well? Does anything encased in glass take a 3-4 foot drop pretty well? Usually not.

This isn't a simple Razr or Nokia phone we're talking about. People need to get past the idea that an iPhone is just a simple cell phone. It's expensive, so treat it like an expensive object.

Ciceruacchio

Einstein once said "intelligence is bound but stupidity is infinite". I wonder if this guy is going to sue his car manufacturer next becouse he drove it into a tree and crushed it and the car owner manual did not say "do not drive into a tree". Seriously.

Get Real

Maybe he should teach his daughter how to hold the phone -- dropping a phone from 3 feet is not normal use....quit blaming everybody else for your mistakes....these types of lawsuits are just plain stupid...

Rodney

Any iPhone user would be let down by how weak the glass casing of iPhone 4 is. Yes, it is a glass casing but so were the other casings from the previous iPhone generations yet this latest model is so weak compared to the prior ones because of its design flaw. 82 percent of the users damaged their screens in the first 4 months than the previous iPhone, that speaks volumes on how big the discrepancy of the design and durability of iPhone 3 & 4 is. Any consumer would be disappointed especially since these gadgets are expensive and they didn't get a bang for their buck.

Guest

You're falling for the statistics. 82% of users haven't damaged their glass. 82% /more/ users than damaged the glass of an iPhone 3GS have damaged the glass of an iPhone 4. That's probably still a very low overall percentage - for example, if 0.5% of users damaged their 3GSes, it would still be less than 1% damaging the glass on the iPhone 4.As another poster points out, since the iPhone 4 has twice the amount of glass than the 3GS had, it's actually rather surprising (and speaks to /good/ design) that the failure rate isn't /double/ the iPhone 3GS.

Tracykim

Actually the stats in the article below, show that it's close to 4% for the iphone 4 for incidence of cracks in the first 4 months. Extrapolating that out for a year, which I know could be technically less, because those could be manufacturing flaws in the first 4 months that show up, etc. but let's just use that assumption, that means that's 12% of all iphones that crack in the first year. That seems like a lot considering there's also a stat in there about how they sold 16.5M units in one quarter (or again using imprecise assumptions to extrapolate that) is 66M units a year. Or almost 8M units that will be broken in the first year (2.6M units that will be broken in the first 4 months). Does that seem remarkably numbers to anyone else?

http://arstechnica.com/apple/n...

Guest

No actually if you read it correct it stats that "iPhone 4 owners reported 82% more damaged screens in the first 4 months compared to iPhone 3gs owners;" It specifically says "More Damaged Screens", which doesn't suggest just any part of the iphones glass was damaged lol. And how is that still a very low overall percentage? Whatever population they conducted this research on actually could suggest that the problem actually effects almost half of iphone 4 holders which is an extremely large number. However Apple won't release any information or facts on this and the small amount of statistics it has released is entirely calculated and determined by them and them alone.

Apple at their antennagate announcement mentioned something like lower than 1% returned their iphones because of the antenna issues. Well from the numbers they provided as for as sales projected, that calculated to around 50,000+ people. So as you sit there and say 1% is nothing, you really lost the scope of how many people were talking about here.

Also since the iPhone 4 has twice the glass and almost 80% more issues with the antenna, breakage (even with an advertised 10x's stronger glass), overheating issues, and a free case that must be used to fix signal related issues? I think it's a large failure compared to previous models rather than calling it a good/design.

I don't remember there being anywhere as many issues that needed Apple to hold public addresses to discuss problems with the iPhone 2g, iPhone 3g, or iPhone 3gs.

Funny how the new Verizon iPhone 4 debuting in a few weeks has a completely re-designed antenna design compared to everyone who has an iPhone 4 currently. Which also speaks more of how poorly the design is and was. Also the lead apple hardware designer of the iPhone was fired... hmm coincidence?

Kevin Chen

The iPhone 4 has 100% more glass than the iPhone 3GS. Therefore, it should have 100% more glass breakage chance. Instead, it only has 82% more, which is good.

Also, "Glassgate"? Come on now.

Karmakaze

Are you kidding? No really, you think you have the slightest idea what you are talking about? Or are you just in denial?

Jason Zhu

is there anyone could give me some information that how can I contact with this guy? I really agreed, I just broke my iPhone 4 a week ago...

thelittletimmy

no need to contact him. if you take it to an apple store they will fix it for free for you.

Emac!!

No Apple will not fix it for free! They want $199 to replace it. Those here defending Apple are either loyal to the point of absolute blindness or a paid consultant to refute their indefensiable position with a bunch of B.S.! My wife's Iphone4 front glass broke just a few days ago, from which she had laid it on our coffee table to do something and a phone call came in while on viberate & the phone vibrated off the edge of the table onto our hardwood floors from about a 1-1/2 fall and the front screen broke! So yes their is a damn problem with the durability of this phone. We both thought that Apple was this "hey we are Apple & we are going to always do the right thing" company when it comes to customer service, which has turned out to be false! Those that have gotten their Iphone4's fixed or replaced for free congrats, but Apple is not CONSISTENT with this policy or practice!

chas_m

Someone needs to explain to this d-bag that stronger glass ... is still made of GLASS. Even bulletproof glass can be shattered, the point isn't to make glass impervious to damage but to protect what's UNDERNEATH the glass, duuuuh derp a derp doo ...

Karmakaze

I have dropped and even thrown my plastic phone around, and it's never broken once. Apple said their glass was stronger than plastic. You admit they lied.

Are you such a fanboy that you will even accept being lied to and overcharged for a defective phone, just so that Apple doesn't look bad, and by extension you don't look like an idiot for buying their crap?

S.C.

Are you retarded Karmakaze you obviously must be to think like the moron in the lawsuit. When you buy a car and smash it into a light post do you bring it to the dealer and tell them to replace it? Or even better you smash your brand new car because you let your 4 year old drive it are you then going to bring it back to the dealership and ask them for your money back? Grow up and stop being a moron, you drop your phone, you kick it, run over it whatever the case may be it is still accidental damage you dumb hillbilly.

Joshua Schnell

So let me get this straight. Guy buys glass iPhone 4. Guy lets his daughter play with it. Guy's daughter drops it. Guy's iPhone 4 breaks. Guy wants Apple to pay for it.

Yup, makes sense to me.

Karmakaze

Hang on, are you saying that Apple never claimed that their glass case was stronger than plastic?

I have dropped my old plastic phone many times and it has never broken once, not even a crack. So if Apple sold this glass case as stronger than plastic, and its not, that is either false advertising or a defective product.

So yes, Apple should pay if their phone isn't even as strong as plastic.

Joshua Schnell

Apple never once claimed their glass was shatter proof. They said it was stronger than traditional glass. You might want to go watch that keynote again.

Chris Peters

You know if the guy took the phone to an Apple store and calmly told them the story they would of fixed it for free.

But no. I bet he came in ranting and raving that Apple's product is defective.

I've personally witnessed someone taking an iPhone 4 with no case and dropping it to a hard slate floor and not even a crack.

mansonn666

That happened to me too... Also had case on it but somehow hit the ground with less than a feet to the ground .. I took it to apple store , they said that they can fix it for 200 bucks , i refused and wanted to talk with store manager , he told me he can get me a new one for 199 , sound reasonable for that time ...