After the original announcement of the iPhone 5, one early concern amongst readers was how well the anodized aluminum back and edges of the black iPhone 5 would hold up over time.
One lengthy thread on our forums has been actively discussing the potential issue and Pocket-Lint in their review did note some wear around the edges after some early usage.
Originally posted by another user
Ditching the glass back and reducing the thickness of the glass panel on the front has affected the design of the metal band around the edge of the iPhone. It is now chamfered and while that looks pretty, we've already noticed that on the black model the edge has started to wear, revealing the shiny silver aluminium metal underneath the "slate" coloured coating and, indeed, we've witnessed it on two separate models, ruling out a fluke manufacturing error.
One person on another forum got straight to the matter and took keys and a SIM card tray pin to the back and edges of an in-store iPhone 5 unit with these results.
Of course, purposefully scratching a device is a bit extreme, but daily usage of any phone will generate some wear and tear. This may be a concern if you are particularly sensitive to the issue.
[UPDATE]
In response to concerns about the durability of the Black iPhone 5's back shell, iFixIt has posted a video pitting a black iPhone 5 against a 2 year old with a set of keys.
Again, this video shows more purposeful abuse to the iPhone 5 than in daily usage, but they do compare it to an iPhone 4S glass backing. As expected, the glass back is not as susceptible to blemishes as the iPhone 5 with the same amount of abuse.
I could take my keys, and scratch the shit out of my iPhone 4S, and watch it get scratched up, and look like shit. The edges will ALWAYS get wear and tear. Whoever decided to do that, is an idiot. It's not a new phone or anything...He must be rich.
I could take my keys, and scratch the shit out of my iPhone 4S, and watch it get scratched up, and look like shit. The edges will ALWAYS get wear and tear. Whoever decided to do that, is an idiot. It's not a new phone or anything...He must be rich.
Yea people will drop there iPhone on purpose right in front of the apple store just to get YouTube views
---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------
Originally posted by Millz59
Great. So they made the phone durable but now it's really susceptible to scratching. :fa:
I updated with a video and I'm shocked. I thought it would hold up better.
updated with a video and I'm shocked. I thought it would hold up better.
As am I. But I think I'll hold out for a nice carbon fiber style scratch protectors with the apple logo cutout for the back of it. And I'll probably buy a case (that'll take some time, I hate using cases on my phones since they look horrible)