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The mark on the iphone is too uniform and precise. To someone that's been involved in mobile phone manufacturing, it looks like the marking of an identification sticker, something that could have displayed a barcode or part number. It appears to me that at the first stage of painting the sticker was left on the frame, someone noticed it before it went through the remaining painting and lacquer stages, removed the sticker hoping the later stages would cover up the error but due to the precise amount of paint that is used on each frame, it was not enough to hide the initial error, hence the precise looking oblong/rectangle shape on the frame.
 
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The mark on the iphone is too uniform and precise. To someone that's been involved in mobile phone manufacturing, it looks like the marking of an identification sticker, something that could have displayed a barcode or part number. It appears to me that at the first stage of painting the sticker was left on the frame, someone noticed it before it went through the remaining painting and lacquer stages, removed the sticker hoping the later stages would cover up the error but due to the precise amount of paint that is used on each frame, it was not enough to hide the initial error, hence the precise looking oblong/rectangle shape on the frame.
Mine rubbed off but I do agree, some for of sticker or where the case has been held by a machine.
 
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I just got this blotch thing for the first time today after doing a fast charge and getting it pretty warm in the process. I am reading that 90-95% of devices have this defect? Still gonna take it to the genius bar this week and see what they say about it.
 
Just checked my 2nd day release blue 15 Pro, I don’t have the uniform mark. My phone has been in a case since the minute it was removed from the box and only noticed the titanium edges are a much greater fingerprint magnet vs the aluminum backing. But they all wipe away clean.
 
Just checked my 2nd day release blue 15 Pro, I don’t have the uniform mark. My phone has been in a case since the minute it was removed from the box and only noticed the titanium edges are a much greater fingerprint magnet vs the aluminum backing. But they all wipe away clean.
Same deal. Straight in a case, no sign of it in the 3-4 times I took out of the case in the last week but today after fast charging from 10% and getting it real warm…boom…got a big nasty mark on the side where everyone is seeing it.
 
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If that section of the iphone is heating up due to charging then the heat is exposing something that was one the frame because look at the mark, it's is a perfect rectangle. Heat will not produce such a shape because when heat is applied to a surface, it starts out as a circle which then expands in size when more heat is applied. This is not the case here because the alleged heat is exposing a perfect rectangle.

The one thing heat can do is expose flaws in the manufacturing process of the frame because what tends to happen is paint is used to cover up such flaws but when heat is applied to the area that has the flaw, the color characteristic of the paint starts to change and it creates a 'shadow' of the flaw.

This can be proven by Youtuber$ who can charge up one of the new iphones and use a thermal imaging camera to see how much heat is being applied to that area of the frame. Then what they do is dismantle the iphone so it's just the frame then apply the same amount of heat to other areas of the frame and see if other marks appear. If an identical sized mark appears on the other side of the frame then it would lead to the suggestion that the issue is due to how the frame was being held during the painting process could ring true.
 
If that section of the iphone is heating up due to charging then the heat is exposing something that was one the frame because look at the mark, it's is a perfect rectangle. Heat will not produce such a shape because when heat is applied to a surface, it starts out as a circle which then expands in size when more heat is applied. This is not the case here because the alleged heat is exposing a perfect rectangle.

The one thing heat can do is expose flaws in the manufacturing process of the frame because what tends to happen is paint is used to cover up such flaws but when heat is applied to the area that has the flaw, the color characteristic of the paint starts to change and it creates a 'shadow' of the flaw.

This can be proven by Youtuber$ who can charge up one of the new iphones and use a thermal imaging camera to see how much heat is being applied to that area of the frame. Then what they do is dismantle the iphone so it's just the frame then apply the same amount of heat to other areas of the frame and see if other marks appear. If an identical sized mark appears on the other side of the frame then it would lead to the suggestion that the issue is due to how the frame was being held during the painting process could ring true.

It’s not painted, it’s a PVD Physical Vapour Deposition and is likely the unforeseen result of the removal of a sticker (or some type of identification tag) in that area prior to the PVD being applied. When the sticker/tag is removed the tiny difference in the surface affects the way the PVD interacts with the metals surface.

It appears to be affecting the 15 Pro Max predominantly and is more clearly visible on darker colours. I would imagine Apple/Foxconn have more than one supplier for the frame which is why not all users are experiencing this issue.
 
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