I’d be hard pressed to identify a gadget more likely to be repeatedly dropped as much as a cell phone. The constant, frenzied fumbling into a pocket for a ringing call pretty much guarantees that your phone will go flying out of your hands on at least one occasion. So when Apple unveiled the iPhone 4 with a design that was glass both front and back, I arched my eyebrow. I suspected daftness.
As it turns out, though, the iPhone 4’s Gorilla Glass backing is pretty tough. It’s not tougher than the iPhone 3GS’s plastic, though. There was also Glassgate, where various third-party slider cases would cause particulate matter to become trapped between the rear back of the iPhone 4 and case, scratching the Gorilla Glass and even growing into larger fractures over time.
No surprise, then, to hear that the first class action lawsuit over Apple’s decision to use Gorilla Glass in the casing of the iPhone 4 has just been filed in Los Angeles. The lawsuit, filed by Donald LeBuhn, claims that the iPhone 4 is not as durable as Apple claims and that Apple continues to sell the product without warning customers of its defective glass housing.
At issue? The way that Apple markets the strength of the iPhone 4 as being “20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic”, “ultradurable” and crafted from the same type of “glass used in helicopters and high-speed trains.”
LeBuhn feels that these claims are false and is asking the court to make Apple refund the price of every iPhone 4 and reimburse repair fees for anyone in the class action lawsuit. Heh.
Despite the implausibility of the settlement LeBuhn wants, he may very well have a point, but I think the real issue is that a cracked back of an iPhone 4 is just so much more unsightly than that of a cracked iPhone 3GS. I suspect Apple’s claims about Gorilla Glass are true, for what they’re worth, but that doesn’t change the emotional appearance to the contrary when you first drop your iPhone 4 only to see the back cracked in a dozen places. What do you guys think?
