The iPhone finds itself at the center of another class-action lawsuit -- this one alleging that the phone’s purportedly durable, scratch-resistant glass screen is actually quite easy to break.
Lead plaintiff Donald LeBuhn says the screen on his iPhone 4 shattered after his daughter, who was using the phone to send a text message, dropped it from a height of around three feet. Before shelling out $252 for the iPhone 4, LeBuhn owned its predecessor, the iPhone 3 GS -- which he said withstood a drop from similar heights.
"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," says the suit, filed in Los Angeles.
Suit takes issue with Apple claims
Indeed, LeBuhn points out that Apple specifically markets the newest iPhone as having especially sturdy glass -- an allegation that is backed up by the language currently gracing the iPhone 4 homepage.
“All the breakthrough technology in iPhone 4 is situated between two glossy panels of aluminosilicate glass -- the same type of glass used in the windshields of helicopters and high-speed trains,” the site claims. “Chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the glass is ultradurable and more scratch resistant than ever.”
In a claim that LeBuhn may find more convincing, the site adds that the glass is “also recyclable.”
Study finds iPhone 4 more fragile than predecessor
LeBuhn isn’t the first one to cry foul over the glass issue. The apparent fragility of the iPhone 4’s screen is such a hot topic that it earned the nickname “Glassgate” on technology blogs.
And in the fall, SquareTrade, an independent warranty provider, published a study finding that iPhone 4 owners “reported 82% more damaged screens in the first 4 months” than owners of the iPhone 3 GS; that “the [overall] reported accident rate for iPhone 4s was 68% higher than for the iPhone 3gs”; and that “[a]n estimated 15.5% of iPhone 4 owners will have an accident within a year of buying their phone.”
“Glassgate” follows “AntennaGate”
Some techies are taking Apple’s side, though. Self-decribed “Apple Holic” Jonny Evans, who writes for ComputerWorld, called “Glassgate” a “myth” comparable to “AntennaGate” -- a reference to the iPhone 4’s seeming propensity to drop calls when a certain part of its antenna is covered up.
Discussing SquareTrade’s findings, Evans pointed out the “82 percent” figure simply “means 3.9 percent of 20,000 iPhone 4 owners reported a cracked screen rather than 2.1 percent of 20,000 iPhone 3GS owners.” Evans also noted “the iPhone 4 has glass on the back as well as the front of the product, while the iPhone 3GS carried it only on the front of the device.”
LeBuhn wants Apple to provide a refund to iPhone 4 owners, as well as reimbursement for any repairs already made.
