iPad Air glass break

I wish no one bad luck when it comes to getting their new iPad Air - featuring 33% breakier glass - replaced but it sure does rub me the wrong way when I hear stories like, "yea - just brought it in and they swapped it out for me" when I received a look from the Apple tech as if I asked him for a locket of hair from Jesus himself.

I've had my iPad Air for a total amount of 6 days and the screen is already broken. I admit I did drop it, but it fell from the couch to a carpeted floor, inside a case. The amount of damage the screen received is ridiculous, for the type of fall. There's hairline cracks all over. I've own apple products since the 1st generation iPod. I still own an iPhone 4s, iPad mini and iPod 4th generation, who have been handled extensively by a 5 year old and 8 year old and the screen is in perfect condition. They've suffered falls that have been so much worse, some out of their cases and they're fine. I can't believe how fragile this new iPad is. I understand it doesn't need to be designed to survive extraordinary falls, but it should survive a fall from a low height into a carpet, in a case! It was a gift, so I'm waiting to know if it's covered under Apple care and obviously on this one I'll need to buy one of those super bulky protective cases, even though my 5 year old can use her iPad mini in a soft leather case with no problem.

😢

Take it to an Apple Store and plead your case. If necessary, talk to the store manager.

Make a Genius Bar Reservation

http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

 Cheers, Tom 😉

I definitely am, this just happened today, so I will most likely go on the weekend. I'm hoping for a replacement at no extra cost or a minimum. Apple has always provided me with good customer service, but nothing like this has ever happened. I'm just a bit surprised at how fragile it is.

I had the £60 Smart Cover on mine and I felt it cracked spontaneously - however, I've learned of people that had there's break from tipping on on Smart Cover stands a few inches onto a table, or cracking in those Otterbox-style cases This is nowhere durable enough to be fit for purpose given that portable devices are designed to be carried around and will of course get small knocks and bumps.

It's like having a Thermos Flask that's as durable as a champagne flute. Useless.

We had an old second hand iPad 2 without a case in the house and while never dropped from a height or sat on it took all sorts of knocks and bumps that I'm convinced would be guaranteed to crack an Air.

I wouldn't pay Apple £249 for a replacement, especially after a haughty Store Manager put my back up. Repaired by an indie shop perfectly, but then broke again, I'm not even sure how.

The glass it just too thin, too fragile.

FWIW, a follow-up. I do not have an apple store near me, but visited one in another city when I dropped my daughter off at the airport last week. The genius confirmed no signs of trauma to the case/bezel, but since my glass had started to spiderweb from the original crack, he said that there was no way for him to know that it hadn't received some kind of inappropriate use or trauma (pressure damage, etc) - he definitely seemed suspicious about spontaneous, regular-use breakage... Told me he had seen one that had cracked from heat exposure - being left in a car. I told him this one had never left the house, only been used and set on the side table. He gave me the "we handle iPads in this store all the time, and one's never broken from holding it." I've owned 4 OTHER iPads (1, 2, 3) and never had an issue either. Neither here nor there - but they would not give me any other option than paying $299 for a replacement. At this point, I didn't even want another Air. If they had replaced it for free, I would have taken it and sold it, to get another "standard" model. I certainly wasn't going to pay 300 bucks for a new one-I-didn't-want.

So - my plan B... I sold the thing - with broken screen - to this company (got an instant quote online, they cover shipping to them, I had the money deposited in my PayPal account 8 hrs after they received it) for $150, then spend $320 for a refurbished iPad3 from Apple (and doubled the storage from 16gb to 32 in the process; refurb is apple certified and comes with their standard 1 yr warranty). Transaction complete, I spent $170 out of pocket and got a new, sturdy iPad with twice the storage.

-Amy

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...my Air has been sitting on my kitchen counter disassembled, safely packed inside a series of paper bags and rags for cushioning for over 8 weeks now. I just can't get myself to put another penny into it. I really feel like somebody ran over my puppy - this is so very sad. I miss you, Steve!

I have owned many apple products and today my wife is using a iPhone4 which is years old and I am still using my much older iphone3gs without ever experiencing any issues. In addition to this my wife has owned an iPad 2 for a few years and in December I purchased the new (at that time) iPad Air.

A month ago I discovered a hairline crack running from the home screen to the edge so knowing that I had not caused it as I treat my iPad with the gentlest of touches, I immediately took it back to the Apple Store only to be told that I would have to come back and see a Genius later that day, meaning another round trip of 60 miles, even though it was obviously a defect as it had not been dropped or mishandled - come on, surly it does not take a Genus to fathom that one out!

When I finally got to see the Genus she immediately said that on this occasion they would replace as a gesture of goodwill but not if it happened again????????

They replaced it without question but I left the store with the impression that I was the only iPad Air owner that this had happened to !!!

Thanks to this site I can rest assured that it was not my doing and that in my opinion, there must be an inherent fault in design or manufacture.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the screens i had my ipad air for about 3 month before the screen broke and that was my fault as i let my daughter play with it... when i came back to the ipad i noticed it had a broken screen and my daughter was no where to be seen.

when she got back i asked her how the screen got broken and all she had to say was "it was fine when i was using it" i didn't want to go on about it so i took her word for it.

later i took it out the case and noticed that one of the corners where slightly dented and in that moment i knew she must have dropped it and then did a vanishing act.

i phoned apple and was quoted something like £249 to have it replaced which i have not got that kind of money plus i am paying a contract on it, then i rang vodafone and they said to me i have 2 options either take it to apple to replace or find a third party repair store, since id already spoke to apple i got on google and found a company who quoted me £100 to fix it, i didn't really want to pay that either but it was the cheapest option so i took that route.

I received my ipad back about 2 days later looking like brand new apart from some slight marks on the corner.

I had a ipad 2 previously and not once did the screen get broken so i assume the screens are slightly thinner but hey im happy my ipad is fixed and my daughter will not be using it again.

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3 Cracks on my iPad Air already. What ****** me off the most is when a company has a major design flaw, and trust me Apple knows this is a design flaw, but they don't admit it and make US (yes the very people that gave them their 500B market cap) pay for their mistake. I predicted a few years ago apple will start their downward slide and this is just the beginning. I have owned 3 iPads, 1 Mac, 1 MacBook, 3 Itouch, 5 nanos, 3 shuffles, 2 iPhones. All it took was this screw up by apple for me to stop buying their products. Was it really worth it apple?

I'm a Apple fanboy - and have been for years - but the iPad Air issue is very real. I've now had three iPad Airs break in less than 6 months.

Prior to owing an Air - I had the original iPad and an iPad 2; both are still in good physical condition today. When I first got an iPad Air - I was pleasantly surprised by how light it was - and thin. But it didn't take long for me to discover the down side of their new design. Having owned it for two months I cracked the glass after dropping it 6 inches onto my wooden bedroom floor. I was surprised it cracked so easily - having treated both my other iPads in exactly the same way - but I accepted that dropping your iPad is not the a wisest idea. I use my iPad a lot for work (8-10 hours a day) so couldn't wait to get it repaired, and instead bought a new the next day. I planned to get the other fixed to give to my wife (who was using my iPad 2 at the time).

About 2 weeks after buying the replacement - i discovered a hairline fracture running left to right across the screen. i was more than a little annoyed - as I'd done absolutely nothing to the damage the glass. rather than run the risk of buying a third replacement - only to suffer the same mishap - I got a GB appointment and went to the local Apple Store to find out what I could do - taking both of my (now damaged) iPads along with me.

The GB staff member looked over the first device - the one I'd dropped - and explained that it would cost £250 to replace it. I thought - fair enough, I did drop it - but explained that the other iPad - with the hairline fracture - had broken spontaneously. Now I've always really like speaking to Apple staff in the past - and have even had a couple of close friends that worked there - so I was really surprised to find this guy explicitly tell me I was lying. He said that the glass wouldn't have spontaneously cracked - and that I must have pressed too strongly on it. I was shocked. I wanted to argue my case - but it was clear that the store guy wasn't going to listen. So I accepted my fate - shelled out £500 and got both replaced.

More than a little disappointed by the whole experience - I eventually forgot all about it. That was until this morning when - lo and behold - I picked up one of my two iPad Air to discover that - yet again - a screen had cracked. Like the second iPad - its a hairline fracture running left to bottom right.

THREE iPads in less than 6 months. Sorry - but this is no Black Swan, no freakish accident. There is clearly a design floor in the iPad Air - which means it can't tolerate general use. Don't get me wrong - I think the Air is an amazing tool - and still love it to bits. But Apple need to admit that there is a problem. The designers are pushing the boundaries how how thin a device can be given the materials they use - which relies on the strength of the glass to lend some rigidity to the whole thing.

I'm about to buy myself a new iPhone 6 - but am already anticipating problems. Like the iPad - there is very little structural rigidity. Fortunately - unlike the Air - the iPhone 6 has less overall weight and it's smaller physical proportions should (I hope) make it less vulnerable. But I'm going to be treating it with kid gloves. Gone are the days when I could trust Apple to develop a portable device that can handle normal daily use. More and more I need to accept that Apple focus on looks, ergonomics and weight in its design of the chassis of its products; the cost of which is poor structural performance and tolerances.

First - is anyone else unable to interact with this forum via iOS through safari? I can only make this post (whEnron iPad) using chrome. Do I need to point out the irony of that?

Second - I've moaned and groaned as much as anybody on this thread - and am still all but fully dispirited (at this point in my post, I could only back-space so I had to pack up and move over to Notes to continue typing - maybe something got into my iPads built in keyboard) by the whole mess.

Being a blind follower, I have of course purchased an iPad Air 2. Love it, as I did the Air which sits inside my closet inside the 2's box. Boy would some their be in for a cruel joke if he thought he scored on that one!

For months (purchased the second day available) I have been living in the twilight zone world of where-the-****-are-cases-for-the-iPad-Air-2?! Thinking a good ratio of you are in my shoes, I figured I'd share my discovery of the first suitable case for the Air 2.

Logitech Big Bang Case for Apple® iPad® Air 2 Forged Graphite SKU: 9483216

I've discovered a lazy Santa - at least at my local Best Buy - FINALLY was able to stock a decent selection of Air 2 cases. They were not there for Xmas - and not there Jan 2 but, BEHOLD Jan 4 - from ZERO (excluding ******** sleeves with "iPad Air 2" stickers slapped on their slip-case) to nearly a dozen somewhat usable cases.

No LifeProof, no Otter - the super squishy Griffin version was available but not an option in my opinion. In combination with my Zagg's Glass and the Logitech mentioned above, I have FINALLY found a long-term solution for leaving the protection of my padded cell with my Air 2 in-hand.

There were some almost-acceptable folios but only this one had bumper edges that extended ABOVE the level of the glass surface thereby protecting it when laying face down.

Sorry I am rambling and pretty off focus with this... review? Riding in the car and dodging, "get off your **** iPad" hoots and hollers.

IMO Call apple , I have bought several apple products in the past and still have them all. My family got a new ipad air for Christmas and within less than 2 weeks it got a full line crack a 1/4 the way up screen all the way across. I have 2 year old ipad with no case ever and 3 children using it and it has been dropped and no problems ever. The ipad air i took to the store and they got me to call apple and get a CS #. After talking to supervisor and him seeing all the apple products I had with no issues he gave me CS # and I have new ipad air now within 4 days no charge. I am very happy with apple support and will continue to only by apple products in the future when needed. I will say though my new phones and ipad air screens are not as strong and scratch proof as the older ones IMO.

Hi I returned my iPad Air 2 because of sound problems &viberation in fingers when typing. I now have the iPad air 1 The Air 2 is just to thin & flimsy. Cheers Brian

I'm glad to have found this thread. I thought I was going crazy. I bought my ipad air at the end of November 2013 as a treat for my birthday. Since day one my ipad air has been handled with kid gloves. I have never dropped it and have never treated it roughly. No one in my family has ever been ever allowed to touch it but myself. Last night while using my ipad I noticed a crack running one side of the ipad to the top left side of the camera. It is just a single hairline crack. I have no idea why this happened. The bezel looks perfect. The ipad looks perfect except for the crack. We have other tablets in our house that I can admit to tossing around, dropping on the floor and throwing into backpacks. These tablets work perfectly and show not even a scratch. They cost much less than the ipad too!!

I am so disappointed and sad. I loved my ipad but I agree with some of the other posters on here. There is a defect with the ipad air screen and Apple should fix it. My ipad just passed the one year warranty. I have yet to take it to the Genius bar but expect to hear it will be £249 to fix. There's no way I can afford it. Grrrrrrr