Apparently the iPod 3G is cracking already. Allegedly it is happening spontaneously and not due to droppage, etc. The cracks don’t surpise me so much, especially on the white ones. To get the white a zinc is needed to be added to the plastic and that inherently weakens the plastic. The crack also seems to be appearing around the headphone jack hole, so its likely right on a weld line.
But still, this soon, and spontaneously?
HMMMMM… I have a white one too. No cracks yet, but I’ll start watching for it now.
Thanks for ruining my afternoon.
Ummmm…you’re welcome?
you’re not the only one…
R
LOL… nice.
I wonder what apple will do? It will be a good test of their customer service, now that they are servicing a lot more customers.
I’ve been thinking about what may have caused this.
If the plastic parts are molded of polycarbonate and the injection molder didn’t dry the resin properly before they processed it then the parts will show signs of being brittle instead of being unbreakable.
Edit: One more thing. Drying resin is usually done as a batch process, so some batches of plastic parts may be perfect and some may start cracking. It depends on the reliability of the process at the molder.
My money is on a China sub-contractor forgetting (or failing) to dry the polycarbonate. Shall we start a pool?
This is another item to add to my previous post:
how will we ever find out what the cause was?
Tickle torture Jobs 'till he spills the beans.
ill leave that up to you
Know someone with connections inside Foxconn?
Tam N. Ly: Program Manager at Foxconn
John Zhang: Quality Manager at Foxconn