It's buckling under the weight of it's own extravagance.

Back in black! And leave it to the white one to be a cracker!

The black ones are likely getting hairline cracks too... they're just not as noticeable.

iPhone owners, check your phones.

You are complaining because they said they would change it out on the spot? Seriously?

I am willing to bet the black one is doing the same thing. The only difference in the two phones is the color of the paint on the inside of the back casing. It is just harder to notice on a black phone than on a white phone.

I wonder if they black ones are cracking too, and its just not as noticeable.

quoute: call Apple (1-800MYIPHONE, how is it one extra number?)

Seriously? Tons of companies do this. Its easier to remember, and doesn't matter as it connects after the last number needed.

I'd not want any cracks in my iPhone, viruses might get in! or Nicole Ritchie!

EEEK!

GEORGE BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT WHITE IPHONES

Yep the black ones are doing it too. You just don't notice as much because its black. The tech sites that have been "covering" it have shots of people showing the cracks under black lights on the black ones as well.

@Puck: WIN!

You know I am not the usually Fanboi Basher ... mostly I stay off those bandwagons, however ...

I knew it was a faulty product, but I bought one anyway ...

QUICK SOMEONE CALL THE WHHAAAAMBULANCE!!!!

Sorry ... I think my last comment violates the posters code ... please delete them if needed I just don't see how this is a valid consumer complaint.

The individual knew that the white (and according to people above ALL) Iphones are cracking. They were offered a replacement at the store. Seems to me Apples keeping their end up quite well. He could have been asked to wait for an RMA box ... ship it in ... wait 2-4 weeks ... get it back ... notice it's still cracked ... rinse repeat.

Had the white one.

Saw a crack on Tuesday night, found out about the rampant cracking Tuesday AM.

Had a brand new Black 16GB in hand by afternoon.

Lets hope it stays with the whites.

They're not cracked, they're hatching new iPhones!

The plastic used for the iPhone 3G's back casing is extremely hard, which would seem to make it brittle as well. (So hard, in fact, that I've heard there were problems with the milling tools breaking.)

the black oes get cracks too. Engadget confirmed with a black light that their black iphone had a crack near the head phone jack.

@TakingItSeriously: Your comment is inappropriate and juvenile. Read the comment code: blaming the victim for buying a product from a company you don't approve of is not allowed.

People, they're not cracking, their hatching. This is the 3G phone. Third Generation. Place them in a warm place, and in a few weeks, you'll have a 4G.

What kind of plastic does apple use that constantly seems to do this? Cubes, mac book, nanos, and now iPhones.

Maybe they should of noticed the trend and I don't know, picked a different kind of plastic.

@jamesdenver: just call 1-800 i love brand new carpteting

I didn't know it was a faulty product when I bought it. I ordered it on Saturday, found out about it on Wednesday, got an email Wednesday afternoon that it was in. Nothing I could do about finding out after I ordered it that they were cracking.

One of the things I don't like about Apple products is that they always need to wear little outfits to protect them from the elements. If I spend $400 on an iPod I don't want to shell out another 30 to buy it a sweater.

Apple makes products they know people will be carrying everywhere, so you'd think they'd consider designing cases that could at least survive the ravages of your average American pocket.

The phone only cares about the seven digit number from the 800 area code -anything after that, but before any automated system picks up is just gravy.

So once again, that number is 1800MYIPHON

Same happened to my (second) White 16GB Iphone. My first one being the silent switch being improperly put on and having to practically force it back and fourth. My third replacement now had weird condensation-like smudges underneath the glass. I am seriously thinking of returning my whole plan to at&t and my phone and just eat the restocking fees. Since i am still within 30 days.

@Puck: You sir, win the internets!

Despite the cracking on the black phones as well, I'm willing to bet quite a bit of money that it's more prevalent on the white iPhones. If Apple is actually making white plastic (or buying it) rather than painting it white, that is the problem. To actually make white plastic, you have to add a couple fillers. These fillers reduce the tensile strength of the plastic, thus the cracks.

As a general rule of thumb, stay away from devices with white plastic that you'll be moving a lot. Things like the Wii that you don't move are fine, but for phones, go with a different color, preferable black if you're looking for toughness.

I guess when Jobs was pimping that the 3g had an "all plastic back", he wasn't anticipating this problem. I remember watching that and thinking, "he can make ANYTHING a selling point - even production with cheaper materials."

Yeah, I read about this over at Engadget yesterday or the day before. Practically everyone on there with a new iPhone is experiencing this problem (especially around the headphone jack), including those with black models.

Shoulda kept them metal. The fact that they are plastic is one of the things that is keeping me from buying.

@tande04: Apple might be using acrylic plastic. I seem to recall that acrylates can be made into very hard shells. I believe acrylates are also used as Plexiglas.

Anyway, maybe this cracking business is a new feature Apple built in to the iPhone to silence all those complaints about non-userchangeable batteries. After a normal period of usage, there'll be enough cracks so that the back comes off and the user can just switch a new battery in and the old (read: dying) battery out. Ingenious! :)

Plastic crap!

@captadam:
Not that they should be cracking, but aren't most cellphones made from mostly plastic? I've never had one that was all-metal.

@mdoublej: Most are, but most aren't made from white plastic, which is inherently weaker than other colors because of the fillers they use to get the white color.

@TheKingBoar:

That's good to know, I wanted a white one, but I guess i'll get the black.

I wonder if it has something to do with heat inside the phone. If it's this hard acrylic plastic other commenters seem to think it is then I'd bet that it's fairly unhappy when it heats up. Maybe the metal back was a better idea just for heat dissipation?

@TheKingBoar: Except for the fact that people with black iphones are reporting the same kind of cracks in the same kind of places. Its just easier to see a black crack against white plastic then a black crack against black plastic.

I'm not questioning your knowledge of how plastic is made 'cause I don't know jack about the process but from what I've read it doesn't seem to be happening anymore often in white then black. Every blog post I've read on the matter has had people comment back that their black one is doing the same thing, they just didn't notice 'til they really looked at it.

I'd say rather then just avoiding white at this point, wait until apple addresses the issue like they have with their other products that did the same thing in the past. Then you can get white, black, red (yeah there is a red one coming) and not worry as much about it.

@mcjake: He's complaining because it shouldn't have cracked in the first place, which resulted in him having to drive back to the store.

the black one is probably cracking too...you just cant see it

So....Apple offers to immediately replace a phone that was cracked out of the box, no questions asked, and OP is complaining (and with near-unreadable grammar)?

FYI, 1-800-MYIPHONESUCKS or 1-800-MYIPHONEISAWESOME will both get you to the same place. Any extra numbers are truncated.

after reading about the black ones cracking near the headphone jack I checked under heavy light and noticed a small crack running from the headphone jack to the chrome bezel on my 16gb. Not rushing back to the store for a new one but curious to see what Apple will do about this if it starts to become universal.

@tande04: I work in the testing department for one of the Big 4 cellular companies. My job is to test cellphones. Trust me, white plastic is weaker. However, if you had actually read my post, you would see that the first thing I did was acknowledge the problems with the black plastic as well. I'm just saying that given standard manufacturing processes (and who knows with Apple, they tend to swing their own way), white is weaker. It could be that Apple decided to cut a corner on the plastic for the black as well, but black plastic is almost always the best choice because it has fewer fillers. My advice isn't to stay away from white iPhones in general, its to stay away from anything made with white plastic that you will be bumping around in your pocket.

@Puck: I loled.

Darn, mine is cracking too...Had to hold it up to a flashlight.

If you didn't know, the black is kinda translucent. When I put a bright light to it, I can see the inside...slightly.

I think the black iphones look cooler, IMHO. White makes the dirt look dirtier.

Looks like a stress crack. Not caused by usage but more by the inherent stresses in the plastic part caused by the molding process itself. I don't imagine it will make a lot of difference what color the products are, those cracks will appear regardless. The parts either need to be annealed after production or the mold tool needs to be changed to prevent stress concentrators.

@mcjake:

i am not complaining about them replacing it, i am just saying that I drove around to get this (my choice, i know) but just sucks that its a day old and these things are cracking. I am just waiting for someone to come out with a replacement brushed aluminum back and ill buy it. reception doesn't really seem to be all that improved.

White vs. black plastic is only a factor in the strength of some plastics and plastics made with some processing methods. Many plastics are inherently white, few are inherently black fyi.

@mcjake: i didn't see any complaint about the customer service, did you?

this is an issue of wanting the precious iphone to be free from defects within 2 hours of owning the product...and not having to drive another 2 hours round trip to have it replaced with another one that will probably crack in his pocket on the way home.

customer service can't compensate for a poor quality product