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iPhone X Max creaking. Poor quality and surely not conformance to requirements.

Y

yachtmac

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2010
46
26
I am really disappointed with the quality control of the XS Max. Mine makes a very distinct creak when even slight side pressure is applied - which makes this over $2000 AUD device seem like a cheap phone.

I understand that people on this forum may ask why I am concerned about this or question why I apply this sort of torsional twisting. I want to stress this noise is observable with slight force even in the leather case. In my day quality was “conformance to requirements”

I believe it exists because there is a lack of glue somewhere and is a pretty easy fix and this is what make this issue really disappointing. btw my old X was rock solid and felt like a quality product should.

This issue has happened in prior phone versions and to other people on this forum with a Max and mostly people make jokes about it. However, I just don’t know why Apple does not eliminate this defect in such a high-end product. That is why I am putting it out there.

I can swap it out as it’s within the 14-day period but nerveless it’s a real pain having to do so on a brand new device and going through the setup process again.

I hope this issue is not too widespread as I think the Max is a really amazing phone.
 
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These are hand assembled devices and the rear glass is glued to the mid-frame.

Apple sells over 600,000 phones per day so some of them are bound to fail in terms of quality.
 
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show it to apple directly, surely they'll replace it easily, there are bound to have a few defects and its better to deal with it early than later... because then they'll obviously know that's not normal. i remember my friend's iPhone 7 PLus broke in 1 day to water damage because of a defect in weather sealing and getting caught in sprinkling reticulation water and she got her phone replaced for free at no extra cost/worry.

[she didn't even do what youtubers do, dunk phones in swimming pools and oceans etc] just normal water sprinkles
 
This happened to me last year with an X. Just return it, if you can, and wait a few weeks to get a new one. This is why I always wait a month after the phones are released because there’s always some gate.
 
I wonder if this is going to be a repeat of the 6+, as in they didn't realize it would need additional chassis stiffening in certain places, etc. You'd think they would've had it sorted out with glass front and rear, stainless steel, and the learnings of the 6+, but have seen several reports here of this issue on the new Max. Unfortunate.
 
My unit has the same creaking and it's the same for a friend of mine. X never creaked at all, but my 7 Plus from before that creaked as well and only got worse with time. I'd expect the Max to worsen in severity over time as well.

Although I could live with the creaking alone, I'm having mine replaced due to horrible grey uniformity at low brightness. I know that sounds like a weirdly specific issue, but it's very obvious in the evening/night when using apps in night mode (e.g. Apollo, YouTube, even the Clock app). The top half of the display is much, much brighter than the bottom half, almost like there's a light shining from the notch downwards. I know OLED is bad with greys and to expect a bit of blotching, but nothing like this. Not only is the top half far brighter, it's also very bluish-green.

Disappointing for such an expensive device, but I've come to expect the odd dud over the years. I just hope the replacement is better.
 
With the millions of iPhones sold annually, there will be thousands of defective units, it’s the nature of tech in general. But Apples ratio of successful sales with no hardware issues is *far* greater than those being defective.
 
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Curious thing, quality control.

Does Apple staff its own QC staff, or does FoxConn, or whoever, do their own internal QC?

Only asking because I wonder if there is some payout bonus to the MFRs for an XXX unit per day performance and if they may let some minor issues slide(chipping, creaking, screen levelness...). Seems we have some posts whereas multiple people experience that one same defect.
 
so my iphone x creaked a lot. I could grip the phone on the sides and it would creak.
I stopped caring. Now I replaced the battery with the battery replacement program and also the screen with the touch sensitivity recall. and now my iphone doesnt creak anymore! Solid.
 
A door in my house used to creak. Floors in the attic too. I've never had a creaky phone :)
 
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