Apple Confirms Some iPad Pros Ship Slightly Bent, But Says It's Normal (theverge.com) 181
A reader shares a report from The Verge: Apple has confirmed to The Verge that some of its 2018 iPad Pros are shipping with a very slight bend in the aluminum chassis. But according to the company, this is a side effect of the device's manufacturing process and shouldn't worsen over time or negatively affect the flagship iPad's performance in any practical way. Apple does not consider it to be a defect. The bend is the result of a cooling process involving the iPad Pro's metal and plastic components during manufacturing, according to Apple. Both sizes of the new iPad Pro can exhibit it.
Those who are annoyed by the bend shouldn't have any trouble exchanging or returning their iPad Pro at the Apple Store or other retailers within the 14-day return window. But it's not clear if swaps will be permitted outside that policy. I've asked Apple if it has communicated with stores about the issue, as I've read some accounts of employees telling people it's accidental damage and warrants an AppleCare+ claim (and deductible) to replace. That shouldn't be the case for a slight bend. Apple also says it has not seen a higher-than-normal return rate for the 2018 iPad Pro so far.
Those who are annoyed by the bend shouldn't have any trouble exchanging or returning their iPad Pro at the Apple Store or other retailers within the 14-day return window. But it's not clear if swaps will be permitted outside that policy. I've asked Apple if it has communicated with stores about the issue, as I've read some accounts of employees telling people it's accidental damage and warrants an AppleCare+ claim (and deductible) to replace. That shouldn't be the case for a slight bend. Apple also says it has not seen a higher-than-normal return rate for the 2018 iPad Pro so far.
if normal (Score:5, Interesting)
If normal, why did bending not appear on older models?
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If normal, why did bending not appear on older models?
Who says it didn't appear on older models? I've owned well over a dozen aluminium chassis devices from laptops to tablets and phones but I've never bothered to check one for absolute straightness and as-advertised dimensions with a ruler and calipers. Have you?
Re:if normal (Score:5, Insightful)
If normal, why did bending not appear on older models?
I've owned well over a dozen aluminium chassis devices from laptops to tablets and phones but I've never bothered to check one for absolute straightness and as-advertised dimensions with a ruler and calipers. Have you?
No but I do regularly put my devices on hard flat surfaces which would clearly reveal any slight bends.
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Hard flat surfaces are what will screw Apple in the end. People will return iPads that rock back and forth in use (bent forwards), or break their screens when they press down a little too hard (bent backwards).
Re:if normal (Score:4, Funny)
Just like the 'notch', the iBanana (TM) will be mimicked by Samsung, Huawei el at. Soon you won't be able to buy a device that doesn't rock backwards and forwards. Eventually, devices won't be considered premium unless they roll around on a flat surface like some kind of demented perpetual motion machine.
Re:if normal (Score:4, Funny)
Well, Samsung did just demo a folding smartphone... Maybe Apple is just trying to get ahead of them.
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Well, Samsung did just demo a folding smartphone... Maybe Apple is just trying to get ahead of them.
So long as they don't copy Samsung's exploding smartphone I'm happy.
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There, you've revealed your strong bias. Your earlier comment left it uncertain that you are an Apple cultist.
There, you've revealed your strong bias. Your earlier comment left it uncertain that you are an Android cultist.
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doesn't change the fact that samsung phones did catch fire...
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Too late.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-explosion-las-vegas/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/14... [9to5mac.com] https://www.thestate.com/news/... [thestate.com]
I could keep going down the google search results, but I'm sure you get the point.
FAKE NEWS!!!!
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Too late.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-explosion-las-vegas/
https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/14... [9to5mac.com]
https://www.thestate.com/news/... [thestate.com]
I could keep going down the google search results, but I'm sure you get the point.
Really? did you read those articles? The first one looks like a 3rd party fixit shop who may or may not have installed a new battery incorrectly. Here are some of the shinier nuggets from the other two:
In all the weird ways people destroy their phones, O’Neal said, he’s yet to come across someone whose battery blew up in their pocket.
“We’ve definitely seen phones that have been shot with BB guns, phones ran over and ones severely bent,” O’Neal says. “Even in all those cases, the battery did not explode or ignite.”
While phone-battery explosions are rare, they do occur. In January, an Apple store in Zurich, Switzerland, had to be evacuated after a worker at the store attempted to extract a battery from an iPhone, according to a CNN story.
I positively love this one, a classic case of 'replace user':
Also in January, an iPhone battery blew up in a man’s face when he bit into it in an electronics store in China. Newsweek reported on the incident.
Thanks for those links, I laughed my ass off while reading the last one.
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The "blame anyone one but apple". Classic!
You are seriously trying to convince me that Samsung recalling millions of phones because they explode and a few incompetent repair people and a guy in China biting a battery made iPhones explode is the same thing because what? ... because Apple == Satan? ... because, well ... uuuuuhhhhh ....Android is better and that's gospel? Now that's classic.
iBanana? (Score:2, Funny)
PeyroniePad
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Just like the 'notch', the iBanana (TM) will be mimicked by Samsung, Huawei el at.
Yet again praising Apple as if they invented something new. Apple ceased innovation years ago, they are just a follower. Microsoft did it before it was cool. Looks like they are even copying Microsoft's PR department:
"Surface Pro 3 devices use a specially treated magnesium alloy case designed to help reduce weight, improve battery performance and because the treatment allows the case to be slightly malleable, improve durability in use. As a side effect of this treatment, devices can acquire a slight curvatu
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If normal, why did bending not appear on older models?
I've owned well over a dozen aluminium chassis devices from laptops to tablets and phones but I've never bothered to check one for absolute straightness and as-advertised dimensions with a ruler and calipers. Have you?
No but I do regularly put my devices on hard flat surfaces which would clearly reveal any slight bends.
If normal, why did bending not appear on older models?
I've owned well over a dozen aluminium chassis devices from laptops to tablets and phones but I've never bothered to check one for absolute straightness and as-advertised dimensions with a ruler and calipers. Have you?
No but I do regularly put my devices on hard flat surfaces which would clearly reveal any slight bends.
...and I follow the philosophy of putting my devices into a $20 cover to keep the $800 tablet from being damaged by falling or getting knocked into things so I tend not to notice (or care) whether there is a 0.5 mm bend in the device when I lay it down on a perfectly flat table top.
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So much for the 'thin design'. So you may as well have bough a gadget with thicker dimensions and a bigger battery. Flag as Inappropriate
Many of us would very much like to. But no manufacturer is selling a flagship model as you've described.
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Sounds like you're missing the point of a protective case - which can be made 2mm thinner if the tablet is 2mm thinner. A larger, heavier device is going to have a larger, heavier impact with the floor.
But it is a very visible bend in some iPad Pros (Score:1)
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That is a problem when you make a product known for its quality, any slight defect become a big problem.
About 18 year ago, I had a Sun Ultra Workstation. These things were built with a high degree of quality. However one of the expansion Slots wasn't as cleanly chiseled down to a smooth edge as the others, and that bugged the heck out of me. Even though most of the PC, for their expansion slots you could cut yourself with those. because they just punch a hole in the medal and call it done.
We will sometime
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Do you use your cheep Android Table to make sure your measurement tools are correct?
No because you know it is a cheap Android Table, and you don't expect that level of perfection.
But if you are going to pay $20 more, for some reason you think you can.
This isn't an Apple apology, just pointing out Apple has put them in a position where people expect demanding quality, at a level higher then anyone really could offer.
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Re:if normal (Score:4, Insightful)
It seems to be related to the new case design. They put a small hole for the mic on one side, and the USB socket directly opposite it, creating a weak point along which the iPad can be bent by hand fairly easily.
That creates problems during manufacturing because it becomes difficult to avoid bending the case as it gets machined and assembled.
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So, basically a repeat of the bending iPhone problem?
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A variant of the bending I-phone problem.
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Except they now come pre-bent for your convenience.
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The new iPad comes pre-bended from the factory
In that sense it's an upgrade.
I would say it's contoured to your arse, but it's a bit big for the back pocket.
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What is different about older models?
They actually put a bit of thought into the design aspect rather than just the visual as they do now.
Re: if normal (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it's secrecy that ruins Apple products. It prevents them doing adequate real-world testing and leads to design flaws that should really be caught. Keyboards that can be killed by a spec of dust, antennas that don't work when you hold the phone, maps so bad they can kill you, weak screen hinges... The list is long and something that other high end manufacturers generally seem to avoid.
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No other manufacturers do not avoid this at all and have the same amount of secrecy.
Name another manufacturer which is still in the market which has as many of these major defects as Apple.
Bendgate 2 (Score:2)
They are just trying to preempt another Bendgate. If they say it's completely normal nobody can say that Apple denied the problem exists.
Reminds me of John Cleese's "How To Irritate People" sketch about the car salesman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Then all they'll have to do is wait a couple of weeks until it comes out that Samsung is shipping tablets with cracked screens instead of cases that are merely bent. [itechpost.com] Which will throw the Hatorade Distortion Field out of alignment, and people will instantly stop caring about bent cases. Again.
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omfg someone who is consistent. Give the AC the internets until the new year.
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Re: if normal (Score:2)
The Apple just leaped into the world of non Eucledean geometry
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If normal, why did bending not appear on older models?
if its normal to talk with this??
Endless (Score:2, Insightful)
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if Apple says their dick tastes like shit but it's normal, there will still be people lining up to suck it.
Hahaha, no man, not me! Heehee funny joke, lining up, haha. I'd never do that!
tries to order dick online at apple.com
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I swear, if Apple says their dick tastes like shit but it's normal, there will still be people lining up to suck it.
It's normal for someone's dick to taste like shit, if they've been fucking you up the ass.
Wow (Score:3, Funny)
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No,
That's *courage*
Distortion field (Score:5, Funny)
Looks like the reality distortion field has turned into a physical distortion field.
That's an example of Apple's "attention to detail" (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple has confirmed to The Verge that some of its 2018 iPad Pros are shipping with a very slight bend in the aluminum chassis. But according to the company, this is a side effect of the device's manufacturing process and shouldn't worsen over time or negatively affect the flagship iPad's performance in any practical way.
I'd like to hear what Apple zealots say about this.
I expected Apple to tell us we're looking at the device "wrong"...
Re:That's an example of Apple's "attention to deta (Score:4, Funny)
I expected Apple to tell us we're looking at the device "wrong"...
"It's not the iPad that's bent. That oak table you're putting it on to demonstrate must be warped!"
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"Do not try and bend the iPad, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no iPad. Then you'll see that it is not the iPad that bends, it is only yourself."
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Virtual +1 Funny.
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Apple has confirmed to The Verge that some of its 2018 iPad Pros are shipping with a very slight bend in the aluminum chassis. But according to the company, this is a side effect of the device's manufacturing process and shouldn't worsen over time or negatively affect the flagship iPad's performance in any practical way.
I'd like to hear what Apple zealots say about this.
I expected Apple to tell us we're looking at the device "wrong"...
They'll just get bent over all the negative comments...
The production process is perhaps not valid for .. (Score:2)
.. this product.
Don't get me wrong, if it works and will not have a negative effect it is basically not an issue, from a functional POV.
Except this is an "Apple product", you exactly don't want a "very slight bend" that.
Judging from the photos that "very slight bend", is just an understatement, what would then be a slight bend, roughly everything below 10Â ?
You want "quallity" in the real sense and not something a chinese cheap-factory spits gadgets out like a machine gun spits bullets - wide spread hi
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That's too expensive. If you wait for a sale, you can get a cheap 40$CAD Fire 7 tablet with all your private data siphoned to Amazon.
Well... (Score:1)
It's normal (Score:2)
It's normal for Apple products to ship slightly bent. I get it.
SJ (Score:1)
Steve Jobs is rolling on its grave.
It's sad to see the decline of Apple. And sadder to see so many stupid people still vouching for it and shelling out top dollars for mediocre equipment that costs half under other brands.
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It's even more sad that quality is decreasing while the prices are increasing.
To tell the difference between a bug and a feature (Score:2)
... just look at the marketing up front!
Is it in there, promoted as the best thing since sliced bread, then chances are that it actually is a feature.
If it isn't in there, it sure as hell is a bug!
Now, did they promote this thing up front? - "Now, with a revolutionary bent frame!" I would not think so....
Steve Jobs (Score:4, Insightful)
Steve Jobs was a jerk, but I cant help but wonder if we'd see this kind of engineering output if he was still around. This sounds like the type of thing he was a perfectionist about and would have went off over.
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Really, remenber this?
You are holding it wrong.
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The iPhone 4 antenna shipped on Jobs' watch. When you look back at the history of dodgy hinges, overheating problems, broken logic boards... I don't think it was any better under him.
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Those were all more-or-less hidden problems. Jobs was fanatical about the look of his products, the impression they created. He'd have gone spare over something like this.
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If it's just a con, why didn't another company with superior products and/or prices pay for their own marketing campaign and drive Apple out of business during the Bush Administration? The first Bush Administration.
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Steve Jobs once said, "We're here to put a dent in the universe." And Apple clearly considers the iPad as the center of the Apple universe. Therefore, Tim Cook is just following Steve's vision.
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Still better than Microsoft that has a lawyer as president.
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Yep. Came here to say exactly that.
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Steve Jobs was not only the "keynote guy" but also the user of Apple products. And as user #1 of Apple products he was extremely demanding and in a position to send the engineers and designers back to the drawing board. Fuck the profits.
Tim Cook is the "numbers guy" and will avoid send the engineers and designers back to the drawing board and fixing defects because doing so costs a lot of money. Fuck the users.
The Cadillac Cimarron of tablets. (Score:1)
Once upon a time, the most expensive production car was a Cadillac. They spared no expense on engineering, fit or finish.
But then you see, people with MBAs were put in charge.
They got the bright idea to sell a cheap Chevy as a Cadillac and pocket the huge profits!
In just a few years Cadillac was turned into a punchline for jokes and the genius MBAs got fired.
But it was too late.
Even decades later, Cadillac never regained first place.
That's exactly the road Apple has been going down.
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And that's why other companies should try and partner up with Apple to offer macOS on their own computers too. And don't bother to quote anything from Apple's early history, offering macOS to other manufacturers today wouldn't put much of a dent in Apple's profits, unlike the first time around when Macs where their only source of profits. More macOS users equals more iTunes sales, more iCloud subscriptions and whatnot. Services are where pure profits are made.
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Actually, the Cimarron wasn't the first. A few years earlier, they made the Chevy Nova into a the Cadillac Seville. The thing is they succeeded at that effort because they put a lot of effort into making the Seville its own car and the result, while not like anything else they sold at the time, still was unmistakably a Cadillac. Sure, the two cars share some of the same underpinnings and a few bits here and there, but there's no mistaking the Nova for the Seville or vice versa.
So, drunk off the success o
It is ok! (Score:2)
It is ok! It not like they try to sell it as a premium product at a premium price. :P
(full disclosure: Recently, I made an impulse purchase and bought the cheapest iPad, a hospital patient needed a distraction and it seems fine for that use when there's proper WiFi)
Out of character (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if only cosmetic, the issue is out of character for Apple, which has rooted its reputation in manufacturing devices with best-in-industry fit and finish.
This quote from the article sums up my opinion pretty well.
I've paid my Apple premium price before because I specifically didn't want to deal with questionable quality in any aspect. I wanted something that I knew someone had spent an exorbitant amount of time testing and re-working to make it as well as they could make it...and I was willing to pay the exorbitant price for that piece of mind so I could just get up and running quickly and go about my business. I haven't been disappointed yet on that front.
But THIS...this smacks of cheap Chinese ebay crap and to try to brush it off as not affecting operation...yeah, that's not gonna fly. Aluminum case warpage today, cheap SSD selection tomorrow. A company's response to a legitimate issue is even more indicative of their future products than the fact that they had an issue was to begin with.
I can accept an occasional slippage on that front, but to try to sweep it under the floor when you know full well your company's reputation and customer base is built around avoidance of that very type of thing raises some questions. They'll rethink this position. I hope.
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This isn't a QA thing. It's a consequence of prioritizing form over function. Apple has managed to convince users that their product design is superior even when it's inferior. For example, consider the widespread misbelief that a metal frame is better than plastic. Droves of misguided reviewers have probably convinced you that a metal chassis is better than a plastic chassis. In f
headphone jack (Score:2)
I guess they don't have the rigidity of the headphone jacks to help keep the iPad straight anymore.
They're so courageous!
Ha hah hahahhaaaaaaha AH. (Score:2)
It's part of their long term marketing strategy (Score:2)
Apple's next advertising campaign: "Get Bent!"
You're cooling it wrong (Score:2)
On the road to mediocrity (Score:2)
If it's normal, they should all be bent.
Saying that it's "normal" that "some are bent" is saying that "our process is flawed, and as a result, it is expected that some of the product will be suboptimal, and we consider that acceptable".
I am surprised that they didn't try to claim that bent ones are worth more because there are fewer of them, and you should consider yourself lucky to have gotten one, as if it was like a rare gold foil version of a trading card.
No no, Apple haters! (Score:5, Funny)
No no, it's just that their products are so cool that it warps the space time continuum!
The device is actually straight, it's the universe around it that is bent!
Apple again behind the competition (Score:2)
The competition did it long before. Apple got lucky with the notch releasing their copycat product same generation as the ones they were copying, but in this case, well they're about 3 generations behind. They used the same excuse too:
Surface Pro 3 devices use a specially treated magnesium alloy case designed to help reduce weight, improve battery performance and because the treatment allows the case to be slightly malleable, improve durability in use. As a side effect of this treatment, devices can acquire
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Oh quickly you do - given the fact that the Samsung Edge [itechpost.com] cracked the screen at the same pressure where the iPhone would merely bend. But since it was no longer just Apple, people instantly stopped giving a shit about bendy phones. Just as they stopped caring about non hot-swappable batteries, no flash card slot, changing cable standards, notches, or even holding it wrong. [tumblr.com]
"Apple does not consider it to be a defect. " (Score:2)
Think Different Great Again (Score:3)
Apple did this on purpose. They're playing 4-D chess while the rest of the industry is playing checkers. By saying "this is normal", they're distracting from other issues they have. Apple won and you lost, so suck it up, buttercup. iPad purchases have consequences. And it's still better than a Surface.
#WhereAppleUsersGoOneTheyGoAll
#TrustThePlan
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If you didn't notice the bend in 14 days of use... (Score:2)
...Is it really so bent you need to return it anyway?
Why is it the job of news these days is to try and get people to worry about everything. Sheesh.
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here's the problem (Score:2)
Apples sells it's products as high end and perfect. When you order one , that's what you expect.
I once had an ipod with a very very slight gap between the plastic and the metal. On a crappy dell or something else, I wouldn't have noticed. On my shiny new ipod given as an expensive Christmas Gift, I obsessed over it. Every time I reached into my pocket, my finger would hit that spot and I'd notice it.
Eventually, I returned it: not because it was affecting function, but because my high expectations made that
Apple Should Just reduce it's production rate. (Score:1)
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Even my cheap Amazon Fire 7 tablet feels solid. Best 40$CAD I ever spent on a "what's a computer".
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Virtual +1 Funny.
The joke about Tim Cook that is, not about the iPads being bent. That's #sad.