My Apple Pencil has developed a crack

My pencil has also developed a crack at the tip (just past the removable part on the main body). It is currently about 3/16" - 1/4" long. The pencil doesn't get any rough treatment (dropped, excessive pressure, etc.). I have marked where the crack is today and will see if it continues to grow. The pencil still seems to work OK but I'm a bit disappointed. I use the Pencil a lot; it has almost completely replaced my use of paper.

snakagawa808 wrote:

I am having the same problem. My pencil has a crack that is about 1/4 long. The pencil is about 6 months old and hasn’t been treated roughly. I called Apple Care and they said it’s not covered and tried to direct me to a local Genius Bar. Very disappointed as this seems to be an engineering flaw. I use the pencil daily and am wondering how long it will take for the crack to grow to affect performance.

4 users reporting plastic casing cracks in thr Apple Pencil is hardly an engineering flaw.

Things happen to product.

If this was happening to every single Apple Pencil, these supoort communities would be inundated with similar Apple Pencil complaints.

This is the only post to date that has mention Apple Pencil casing stress cracks.

The Apple Pencil IS made of plastic and only of a certain thickness at that!

So, there is a possibility of cracks or breakage because of the fact the Apple Pencil casing is made of plastic, instead of metal.

These are user to user support forums.

Everyone who responds here are just users, like you.

No one who responds here work for Apple.

Those, like me, who have high reputation/participation points are regular support community VOLUNTEERS.

Any one here that posts are volunteer Posters, too!

Cognizant Apple employees never participate or respond in these communities.

You are linking a post on BestBuy's website.

I am strictly talking about the Apple’s own support communities and the iPad support communities, specifically.

If this flaw were rampant, these Apple support comminuites would be THE FIRST place users would post their complaints and concerns.

Apple has probably produced millions of Apple Pencils.

Even if there were 1000 Pencil users that had this flaw/defect, this is not a significant enough percentage for Apple to be concerned.

Many companies that mass produce product have a percentage threshold of failed product before the company will decide to take some form of corrective action.

As a race, humans do not create perfects products!

There is always going to be a an acceptable percentage of product that develop flaws or issues before such a flaw or issues becomes a concern for a mass production product company.

Even at that, if the flaw or issues will be an expensive thing to deal with, some companies cover things up until the issues become soooo great and tooo many users/customers complain that the company can no longer ignore their product/s defect/s, flaw/s or issue/s.

I am having the same problem. My pencil has a crack that is about 1/4 long. The pencil is about 6 months old and hasn’t been treated roughly. I called Apple Care and they said it’s not covered and tried to direct me to a local Genius Bar. Very disappointed as this seems to be an engineering flaw. I use the pencil daily and am wondering how long it will take for the crack to grow to affect performance.

Okay..... well the stress cracks are in the casing whether it be on the tip or the rear (and that's real). 10,000 user reports happen one at a time, though like I said for this price point, probably won't get there. Less than 6 users but enough to get the attention from a guru like you. Anyway thanks for your attention to this matter and specifically your concern and energy spent over my post. I wouldn't want to distract you further from the important issues you are probably helping others with. I'm amazed that there are people who would take the time to respond to issues that don't affect them...hmmm, perhaps too much time on their hands?!?

Please seal 'my inferiority/chip on shoulder/nothing better to do/need to get a life' assumption by needing the last word and responding again....

As for you others who are having this problem with the 'non-engineering flaw' cracks, let's hope that it gets recognized and corrected since the pencil is a great tool that should last us up to 6 years (estimated battery life).

I was never a fan of the Apple Pencil.

The plastic casing always felt cheap!

It’s slippery and just feels like cost cutting.

Apple Pencil users are always losing that lightning connector cap!

I use better made stylii from Adonit.

There stylus offerings, at least, are all aluminum.

No case cracking there.

My Apple pencil has no cracks; however, the pencil connecting dongle has developed them. It’s a bit weird since I only use It at my desk. I will be contacting Apple for a replacement. I’ve only had the Apple Pencil for 4 months now.

Good for you. I wish I had received the same treatment.

bcormie01 wrote:

John at Apple Care was very considerate and helpful. Apple will in fact replace the Apple Pencil for free. They have to put a hold on my card for the amount of the device until the defective one makes it back to them but in the end, replaced free of charge...YAY!

The hold is standard for service by shipment. It's to guard against those who don't send in the defective device and try to sell it themselves (More people than you think do that). As long as you ship the broken one back the hold is released, and your replacement should include the return shipping label all ready to go.

Don't settle! Contact AppleCare at http://getsupport.apple.com. Do the phone option or call them directly at 1-800-MY-APPLE.

Same issue. I was directed to the Genius Bar. The "Genius" told me that I should use DUCT TAPE to hold the pencil together.

No joke!! 😮

I am beyond appalled. They told me I could buy a new pencil with a discount of $7 (yes, you read that right. SEVEN), or use tape. The choice was mine. I headed for the door.

They look like stress cracks. Even though I don't hold/ press my pencil unusually hard. They developed within a few weeks of buying the pencil.

As an engineer we learn that not having considerations like putting metal reinforcement in stress points IS an engineering oversight. These oversights become apparent through use and we often make adjustments as we find out how our products are performing. As a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt I've learned that, of the population that experiences defects, most will not go through the trouble of registering and/or posting responses for items below a certain cost threshold depending on product type, this is in that category. Having a post with this topic is an indicator that it is a concern. With Apple's customer service standards I would expect an investigation into this over time, not now, but when the issue becomes more apparent. As for this being the only post.....http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-Buy-Repair-Support/Apple-Pencil-Replacement/td -p/997353.

Also the best article on the pencil at Apple Pencil Teardown - iFixit ends with a comment of someone noticing that his nib is starting to go crooked and making a clicking noise. Similar with mine beofre the stress cracking started. The other posts also reported that they have not handled their pencils roughly nor have they dropped or overly stressed them. Reviewing the content of your response I'm pretty sure I can estimate the level of leadership you hold in the organization (if even associated with Apple) so you probably have no control over the response to the VOC. However, I expect that, over time this engineering flaw will become more prominent and the design will improve.

With responses like yours and the 'Genius' recommending duct tape I'm disappointed where Apple's standards are heading. If you're not with Apple then I recommend you let them respond to their product concerns.

BTW

I just checked that BestBuy link.

Did you even check out that post before supplying that link?

One user reported the casing cracks!!!

So, we're up to less than a 6 users reporting this now!

Really????

Apple will not even deal with this so called, by you, “engineering flaw” until more than 10,000 users report such an issue.

And if these casing stress cracks happen over a longer period of time ( like over a year or more), Apple may or may not even deal with this issue!

Get real.