Chips appear on iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, Apple says cosmetic damage isn’t covered under warranty.
Back in 2012, a problem was identified with the anodizing used on the iPhone 5. Owners started noticing the casing had chips where the aluminum was visible beneath the anodized surface. In some cases the iPhone arrived with the chips already visible.
As spotted by 9to5Mac, it looks as though that same issue is happening again with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, but only on matte black models.
Apple’s support forum is slowly filling up with reports of the matte black iPhones being chipped (three pages long at the time of writing). These chips expose the silver aluminum underneath and can occur within the first month, or even first week of ownership. Even if the iPhone is protected inside a case, chips can appear.
The chips occur most often around the volume button and speaker grille, but they can also happen along any of the edges or on the back of the smartphone. The matte black iPhone 7 Plus seems to suffer from the problem more than the smaller iPhone 7.
The headache for iPhone owners is Apple’s policy on case damage. As it’s viewed as “cosmetic damage,” which occurs through normal daily use, Apple doesn’t cover it under warranty. Even if a chip appears after a few days, it’s still cosmetic damage.
Smartphones are constantly being handled, slipped in and out of a pocket or bag, and can quite easily be dropped or knocked. Damage to the case is something we all accept and that’s why protective cases exist. But if it chips without cause in the first few weeks of owning the phone, or even while inside a case, that’s not acceptable.
If the complaints in the support forum continue to grow in number, Apple will need to respond with something more than claiming cosmetic damage. It looks as though there’s some issue with the matte black anodizing process, and I’d be surprised if Apple wasn’t already quietly carrying out a review with its manufacturing partners.