iPad Air glass break

IF this happened to you Tim; Contact AppleCare and ask to speak to a supervisor, again sadly this is all depending on the person you get, have this conversation thread saved to show that you've done some more research.

Went thru 2 supervisors , since crack was diagnosed at store no help would be afforded! I'm content with cutting my nose off now to spite my face . People love bad news and I have been sharing. I have remove apple decals off back glass of cars and I'm headed to AT&T to get new samsung . Apple is rotten for me now ! Thanks for the reply. !

Since Apple opened retail stores, I've been to dozens of them in multiple states. Their service has been uniformly impeccable over years and years.

I have to suspect there is something missing from the equation.

In any event, anybody *else* who develops a hairline crack without bezel damage to their iPad Air shouldn't hesitate to politely request and expect a new one.

I would like to add my experience. On December 22, 2013 I purchased a 32 GB iPad Air, paying a little over $600.00 after tax. I left it in the box and gave it to my 11 1/2 year old son as a Christmas present. He was taking impeccable care of the unit. Every time I turned around, he was cleaning it/ wiping off fingerprints with a damp microfiber cloth. We have the Logitech keyboard/case also sold at Apple stores. The iPad Air hadn't left the home. It hasn't been dropped. My son watches Netflix on it a bedtime. He left it on the bed Sunday and went back to school Monday. On Monday January 6, 2014 after school/work, we noticed a hairline crack on the unit, similar to XVortex's posted image on this string. We have taken photos of the crack including the sides of the unit to demonstrate, if need be, there was no drop or impact. The side borders and back of the unit are impeccably clean. Aside from the hairline crack, the screen is clean. My son was obsessing on over the care he is taking of the iPad air. My Wife has an iPad 2. My son was striving to keep hi iPad Air in impeccable shape. My Wife's has no screen damage.

Meanwhile back to the story. Because my kid was upset, I went to the local Apple store on Monday evening January 6, 2013 to make a Geniusbar appointment--after reviewing the posts here. I was polite and courteous. Before I had the appointment set, I was toled a tech could look at it quickly, but he was with another customer. I was told accidental damge isn't covered and was told that for $279.00 they would swap out my 15 days purchased/12 days out of the box $600.00 ipad.

I am happy to have one of my older children upload the photos of the hair line screen crack and pristine unblemished sides of the iPad air. I own Apple stock and have faith in their product and service. The product must be designed to be suited for its intended purpose. Normal, non negligent use should not result in damage. I understand the product is designed with thinner glass to reduce weight. However, there needs to be some durability to allow for normal use. I know the unit wasn't dropped there was no accidental bumping, packing in a back pack or anything else. De care was used, but it still cracked.

Many here have been helped by Apple at no cost. You should not have to pay to fix Apple's design flaws.

Ask for a refund. These companies rarely, if ever, admit their mistakes. However, usually, they will help the device owner free of charge. Maybe because you have Apple Care Plus... but didn't you buy that to help with any problems caused by you and not Apple? And now you've used up one of your damage repair uses. And what if it happens again? There goes the 'plus' aspect of your Apple Care Plus.

Apple almost always is very reasonable and pleasant to work with.

Ask for a refund.

Hope this helps.

Apple says that design is not how it looks, but how it works. However, it seems that when prettiness and function are at odds during design, prettiness tends to prevail.

No arguing the iPad Air looks gorgeous. But a closer look shows how some of that comes at the expense of extra fragility. Look at the bezel. There is nothing between the thin aluminum lip and the glass panel framed within. Aluminum is weak and bends easily, the lightest impact will dent it inwards directly against the glass. Maybe a millimeter or two of some type of silicon joint would help; but then the iPad would't look so cool, right?

There is another problem: glass and aluminum will expand and contract at different rates with temperature. With no flexible joint material in between, something may give; and guess what that will be. If the materials are already assembled too tight together then a small temperature change can make the glass go.

Hope someone at Apple takes note.

I have to say I am rather shocked at what I have been reading.

I bought the iPad Air on the weekend and read further on the forums as the whole thing feels hollow and delicate. Even the sound from the speakers sounds hollow.

I haven't damaged mine yet but I'm seriously thinking of asking for a refund.

I think that this is one product 'broken as designed' (or likely to be).

If it's from the Apples tore they should be able to replace it. Will have much better chances if you bought Apple care. Also keep in mind you only have to replace the gorilla glass and not the actual screen.

Same thing happened to me. Overnight a 3 inch crack appeared in the upper right corner (when home button is on the left, landscape mode). Absolutely no mishandling or dropping. Crack, so far, is under the glass. I have Applecare and the tech. was very nice, giving me a case number and telling me to take it to an authorized repair depot, where (he thinks) it will be replaced free of charge. We shall see, but in 20 years of being solely an Apple customer, I have always gotten THE BEST service.

Exactly the same problem. iPad Air less than 2 months old. Always handled with kid gloves and been extremely careful. Never dropped, never banged. Suddenly there's a diagonal hairline crack right across the screen for absolutely no reason. It's so fine you can only see it when the screen is in bright natural light. Having owned and used Apple computers for many years, I am very disappointed and depressed at the hassle of having to take it to an Apple Store, hoping they will do the right thing and replace it without any argument!

I started a new discussion on the problem of iPad Air screens cracking for no reason. It was up for a few minutes, then disappeared. I received an email stating 'We’ve removed your post iPad Air screen cracks for no reason because it contained either product feedback or feature requests.' This seems like blatant censorship of someone who is unfortunate enough to have bought a faulty product.

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jeremyevans wrote:

This seems like blatant censorship of someone who is unfortunate enough to have bought a faulty product.

This is a user-to-user technical support forum. If you believe you have faulty hardware, you need to take that up with Apple directly as there is nothing that can be done to help you here. Make an appointment at the Geninus Bar at your local Apple Store or call Apple directly. There is a Contact Us link at the bottom right of every page.

According to the Terms of Use to which you agreed when you signed up for this forum, Apple may delete anything at any time.

Best of luck. .

Just returned from Apple store, my less than 2 month old ipad air slid off a computer table into the keyboard tray, glass feather cracked, looks like peacock plumage. Did not purchase Apple care based on my experience with its predecessor ipad4 being much tougher, so wasn't surprised when the Apple genius said I was out of luck, needed to pay $299 for a replacement. However, they didn't have replacements in stock so could not even get same day exchange. Have purchased an ipad4, the air, and an ipad mini as a gift all within 15 months but am rethinking everything if the current models are more delicate. Left the store without any resolution. Looks like I can get $100-140 for the broken air from Gazelle and other resellers, the genius said the apple recycling program value for a broken air is zero. Thanks for letting me share/vent.

I had a cracked iPad Air screen as well. I had to pay $299 for replacement.

Now the new replacement ipad screen has cracked!

After owning every iPad since they have come out this has never happened.

I am going to bring this to the apple store to see what they gave to say. There is no sign of impact whatsoever.

This replacement didn't even drop.

Good luck to you at the apple store, your second breakage is discouraging. I went to another apple store a few days later and paid for the replacement from a genius that didn't make me feel like they were doing me a favor letting me fork over another $299. I'm actively looking for a case now, especially hearing about your experience. I guess in hindsight AppleCare would have been less expensive. Hope you post back after you bring the second tablet in.