Phil Schiller says Scratches are Normal, but does that make you feel any better about your scuffed iPhone 5?

Unboxing the iPhone 5 might be causing mixed emotions for some Apple fans… The device is every bit as thin, light, and beautiful as promised, but some are concerned that it’s not going to stay that way—this as more and more users come forward to say their black and slate handset is prone to scuffing and scratching. In some cases, it even looks like they come packaged that way… So it’s Phil Schiller to the rescue… Well, sort of… A 9to5Mac reader revealed an email that Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, responded regarding concerns for scratches and scuffs on his black and slate iPhone 5. Phil Schiller stated:

“Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color.  That is normal. “

While it might be “normal” for aluminum products to get scratched and chipped, it’s more than a little disconcerting that so many cases have been discovered in less than a week’s time… “Scuffgate” this ain’t, but I’ll admit, I spent 10 minutes trying to rub off a tiny silver spot on the corner of my black iPhone 5, thinking it was lint, dust, or something similar. I now know that it’s the natural silver color coming through, and it’s going to be part of my phone for the next two years. While it’s nothing more than a speck in my case, we’re all conditioned to expect our Apple products to arrive in our hands in none other than pristine condition, and anything less is just a bit of a letdown.

At the same time, I love the texture of the anodized aluminum, and perhaps this is the price we pay… So does this mean we can expect to see a lot more case-enclosed iPhone 5s than the previous generation? It’d be a shame to hide that design, but if Schiller is right about this being “normal” for a few days of use, then I’d hate to see what an unprotected iPhone 5 will look like at this time next year.

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Devin Wieland

 

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