can you engrave an iphone 5?

Still no engraving for iPhones as of Dec 2017.

Engraving a device does reduce the trade-in and/or resale value, but in my opinion it should be offered.

I phoned Apple about this and got a girl who laughed somewhat derisively, and told me that Apple doesn't engrave phones. I pointed out to her that while I could understand this for phones with glass or polycarbonate backs, the iPhone 5 had an aluminimum back just like the iPads, which they DO engrave.

This cut no ice with her and again she laughed before asking if I wanted her to organize ordering the phone for me! Of course I said no. I'm hoping that someone at Apple will soon wake up to the fact that laser engraving an iPhone 5 is both possible and safe, and that they will offer the service before too much longer.

I'm holding out on buying a new iPhone until it happens.

What bothers me most about your post is her attitude, by laughing at your question. Another example of bad customer service. I was trained to never laugh at customers questions, but to answer politely. Not saying I was always perfect, but we saved our laughter until the call was over.

Though the laugh was annoying, it didn't bother me so much as the fact that the girl didn't seem to have the brains to even entertain the proposition that because the back of the iPhone 5 is made of the same material as iPads, it might now be possible to engrave an iPhone.

If she'd said, 'Hey you could be right about that. Would you like me to make inquiries for you?' I would have been impressed.

Check out engravemyiphone.com, they engrave iPhone 5s. You can put whatever you want, so Im sure a few lines of text wouldnt be a problem.

Thanks for the tip but I live in Australia and wouldn't be prepared to send a new phone overseas to be engraved. If these people can do it, Apple should be able to do it also.

I've been told that the employees at my local Apple store are telling people the reason Apple won't engrave the iPhone 5 is because the aluminium back is too thin! Apparently the engravemyiphone people in Arizona don't have this problem.

I highly doubt this is true as the whole back is a solid piece of aluminum. Also, they have no problem doing it to iPads, which would just the same as the iPhone.

I agree. Even though the back of the iPhone is thin, I can't imagine micro laser engraving would carve into it that deeply. I think those guys at the Apple store are just coming up their own theories for why Apple isn't offering engraving, which means lots of people must be inquiring about it!

Anyway, I'm holding off on buying an iPhone 5 until Apple offers engraving or gives a very good reason why it can't be done. My old 3GS still works fine.

Not offering engraving for iPhone is a WEAK reason to not buy one. It's like shooting yourself in the knee with an arrow.

First: they do entirely too much VOLUME in phone sales to offer engraving on them for free.

Surprise, surprise...MOST people SAY they buy the 32 or 64 gig...but really buy the cheapest ones. It wouldn't be cost effective to engrave for all.

Second: many people want to trade in phones for price breaks on the next generation device. Engraving makes your device unacceptable for most trade in programs.

Third: the aluminum may be thinner, specs unknown until my 5s is in my hand.

Last, and MOST IMPORTANT: Apple has NEVER engraved phones, and it REALLY hasn't hurt them one bit....don't expect a one man ultimatum to change them. Especially when you can go to ANY jeweler, ANY trophy store, or ANY Things Remembered store, and PAY for engraving at your own risk.