iPhone Screens Developing Dead Spots?

August 10, 2007 By Geoff Duncan

iPhone Screens Developing Dead Spots?

Reports have Apple quickly and quietly responding to iPhone buyers complaints that portions of the devices touch screens go "dead," making functions difficult or inaccessible.

Apple may be facing a hardware issue with its much-vaunted iPhone: it seems some iPhone owners are finding portions of the devices’ touch screens are going “dead,” making some controls and features difficult or impossible to access.

At this point, evidence is scattered and hearsay—limited to postings in online forums and comments from industry analysts claiming to have a handle on the situation. The most common symptoms seem to be a strip about a half inch wide in the lower half of the iPhone screen (as held vertically) ceasing to respond to user taps and drags, but some users report the entire bottom quarter, third, or half of the screen giving up on them. Some users report similar problems on the upper portion of the touch screens, and others report inconsistent dead spots: sometimes the screen works fine, sometimes it doesn’t. Resetting the phone or installing Apple’s recent iPhone software update doesn’t resolve the problem.

“I love the phone,” wrote one user of Apple’s online support forums, “but find that I cannot at times use the bottom of the screen. I have tried to reset it several times, no-go.”

“I am having this issue as of last night,” wrote a user at AppleInsider’s forums. “The entire bottom row of buttons—Phone, Mail, Safari, and iPod—are non-responsive. I can barely move the slider when my iPhone is locked. Seems the dead spot ends at the very top of the bar, so I can still unlock. I tried everything from powering on/off, to resetting, to restoring and still nothing.”

Contacted today, Apple representatives declined to comment today, save to say users experiencing hardware problems can contact Apple or take their iPhones to an Apple Store. Some reports have Apple retail locations quickly and efficiently managing replacement iPhones in the event of a dead screen; others do not.

Apple offers loaner iPhones for $29 in the event a phone has to be sent back to Apple for repair or replacement. Some users with dead screen problems have reported some success having this fee waived; others have reported no such luck.

Reports in tech support ares and other forums tend to amplify the perceived scale of potential problems, leading to unwarranted speculation and reaction. Messages from five angry people in a message board are not an indication of a widespread problem with a product which has sold hundreds of thousands of units in a short time—but they could be the tip of an iceberg, right. For now, the scale and source of a problem—and even if there is a problem —are not known. Sure, Apple could be facing a design issue with iPhones, or a defect in a small portion of handsets. Or the troubles could be be related to the way some owners use or store their iPhones—a notion some makers of iPhone cases will no doubt play up.

Showing 4 comments

paul easterwood at 2:03pm 27th August 2008 Just got back from the Houston Apple store. I too have a dead strip around where the "8" is on the dial screen. I was told that because my phone was out of warranty that my only option was to replace by 8 gig phone with another 8 gig phone for $200. No offer to repair with or without a loaner phone. I could not upgrade to a 16 gig phone even if I paid extra. This is a phone that I paid $600 for then got an in store cerdit of $100 when apple dropped their price to $400. They now want me to pay $200 for a "new" obsolete iphone.

I was considering the G3 phone if they ever get their dropped call issue resolved. Not any longer. I think apple has gotten to big for their britches. I will also sell my stock in apple.
chris at 4:52am 11th October 2007 Well my friend had this dead zone problem already and now my phone is broken as well. Both were bought on release day. I went to the apple store in SoHo (NYC) at lunch time and was told that I needed to make an appointment for a genius and that no one could see me today. I explained that the dead zone (the bottom icons on my phone) was well known and I simply wanted to turn it over for repair and receive a loaner. I was told that I had to come back tomorrow. I left and went to the midtown flagship store where the manager there informed me that regardless of how well known the issue was I still had to see a "genius" and the first available slot was *5* hours later at 11pm. I left disgusted, with my broken phone.

A good company would have already opened up about something like this and made it way easier for their customers to deal with it. Not impressed Apple.
Matt at 7:26am 13th August 2007 I think in all of this the most dissapointing thing is that Apple wants to charge their customers 29.00 for a loaner on a product that they made that is defective. I can understand Gen 1 problems, but if I was Apple, I would drop the 29.00 loaner, and simply let them keep the loaner phone. If you keep the people happy they will buy several phones, don't let your first phone in this market put a bad taste in the consumers mouth.
Branden at 6:46pm 11th August 2007 AT&T does not support iPhone users in store. They pass the buck to a MAC store and leave you stranded. My phone is completely dead from the bottom of its screen to the middle with 8 menu items useless (the most important ones). Since I live on Kauai, the nearest MAC store is a 100 miles and a plane trip away. So far I have wasted countless hours today dealing with this issue and nothing has been resolved. Apple also tried charging me $29 for a loaner, can you believe that, &%#)%@#!! I am really pissed off, my business and my communications life has been haulted because of AT&T and APPLE. DONT BUY AN iphone, AT&T and Apple are not interfaced to work together with consumer issues, they set up everything thinking there would be no problems it seems.