Jumping Ship from the iPhone

I am jumping ship from the Apple iPhone.  This is why you should, too.

iPhone 6

I bought my iPhone 6 Plus early into my pregnancy.  I had my iPhone 4s for 4 years, and there was not enough room in my 16 GB phone to upgrade to the newest operating system. Four years is a long time and I was happy with it. So when the salesman talked me into getting the iPhone 6 Plus with 128 GB of space on the AT&T next plan rather than the 64 GB that I was going to buy, I thought it would last four years again and be worth it.  $1,000 is a whole lot of money but 4 years is a really long time.  As the salesman put it, what’s $3 more a month for 30 months, especially with the fact that you will want the space on the phone to take pictures of your new baby? And what’s paying just $31 for 30 months (2 and a half years) when you intend on keeping your phone for 4 years?

Bend-Gate

I’ve now had my phone for 16 months and still owe $443 on it.  And one day, randomly, the screen just stops working. The phone itself works still. I can ask Siri to open apps, make phone calls.  I can stick my headphones in and use the headphone controls to turn my music back on. But I can’t turn off the phone alarm when it goes off. I can’t answer phone calls. I can’t add food items to my shopping list. I can’t take pictures, which was really the whole point of getting a phone with that much space.

The iPhone 6 is in the news recently for an issue that has been given the name of “Touch Disease” that harkens back to “Bendgate”.  It’s been all over the news lately such as here, here, and here.

Naturally, my phone is one of those that have been afflicted.  In previous versions of the iPhone, the touch chip that connects to the motherboard used to be covered by a piece of metal to keep the chip snug and in place.  With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the metal board was replaced by a piece of black tape.  Tape…instead of a metal board.  Really?

iPhones vs Other Phones

My brother got into an accident.  Luckily he is fine, but his van got totaled and his phone was tossed around and his screen got smashed.  He has a Motorola.  Though his screen is broken, his phone still works fine.  My phone is beautiful.  It has been in an Otter Box since day 1.  My phone does not work.  The iPhone is no longer a superior product.

What does Apple do?

I brought my phone to apple to see what my options were. I was 4 months out of my warranty.  The technician told me that there was no fix for this issue. The phone simply had to be replaced.  He then told me that, since this was a known issue with iPhones, he would be able to give me the same exact phone for half off; for $379.99 plus tax.  Again, he offered to sell me another of the same exact model phone that has a major design flaw for a whopping $400.

My husband asked, what happens if this phone has the same issue? The technician told us that Apple would be happy to give us a warranty on it for three months, no charge.  My husband pointed out that it took 16 months for the phone to break, and what happened when my new phone broke at 16 months? The technician suggested we buy the extended warranty.

Apple, a company that makes billions of dollars every year, does not stand by its product and own up to its design flaws. Instead, it makes consumers, us, foot the bill. I was furious at the technician. Buy a second garbage phone for $379.99 plus tax when I still owed $443 on my current broken piece of garbage phone? No thank you!

That is why I am jumping ship from Apple, and you should too.  They offer no loyalty to their longtime customers.  They deserve no loyalty in return.

Finally, a law suit!

Enough people have had the same exact issue that I have had with my iPhone, that there is now a class-action lawsuit  against them for the dreaded “touch disease”.  The plaintiffs had the same exact issues and Apple treated them the same way; there is no fix, just pay a lot of money to buy another defective phone.  iHope they pay.