iPhone 7 Plus Matte Black Paint Chipped

I prefer not to speculate about the exact root cause only based on photos. I personally wouldn't get the matte black right now given that it has some evident flaking problems which Apple don't seem to acknowledge so far. Besides, the jet black is gorgeous, and while it will scratch, if seem to wear in a far more predictable manner.

No, that is not a correct reading of the text. All the color variants are of course anodized. The process for the jet black is a bit more complex though due to the high gloss finish, which is extremely difficult to achieve with aluminum.

I am having the same issue, chipped from charging area, also the area around the apple logo is loosing its color, even though i use my phone with a screen guard and apple silicone cover, which covers the whole body, occasionally take of the cover just to clean it with a cloth.

Strange thing is no reply or update from apple, just washing their hands off with the cosmetic damage clause, if so many people are facing it, they need to take it more seriously and replace or rectify the problem considering its almost a £1000 phone

Mhm. Very helpful, thanks.

My iPhone was carried in a microfibre pocket all the time since I got it. I appreciate the high resell value of the phones so I am personally somebody who really takes care of the phone up to the moment where I sell it. You will find no scratch and no dent whatsoever on my entire device, just the chipped paint. And that, dear sir, is not supposed to happen. Not in this price category.

I have a Genius appointment tomorrow evening here in Germany, will post the outcome of this.

Dear Apple,

You need to do something about this if you want to keep your many loyal customers. People who pay somewhere from $649-$969 for a phone that they take care of do not expect for the paint to chip off of the device and if it does you guys are responsible for replacing them. It's obviously affected many users so you need to look into it. Maybe a bad batch came out of the factory and there was a design malfunction, so a recall needs to be issued. Thanks!

Ok I cannot tell if I caused a precedence here, but I had my Genius appointment today and the Genius had the manager's assistance. They confirmed that obviously the paint chipped of without external influence or usage and that I get a replacement phone. They don't have that "damage" type in their warranty list so far, but they were able to register the case and I got my replacement.

So, that's German service level. I cannot speak for the US though.

I have also iPhone 7 matte black. It has also some dots like chipping. Today I talked to one of the customer care people. Below is what they have replied:

"I cannot guarantee the phone would be replaced, we would want to have the phone looked at first to determine what’s going on.

I completely understand, however I cannot guarantee a replacement.

OK, what I can do is refer you to an Apple Authorized Service Provider in your area to have them take a look. Would you like to do that?"

So I need to find the solution by visiting service provider.

Hi, similar reply to me as well... they "understand us"... but a replacement not guaranteed. At least he recognized they are studying this issue.

I've got appointment for this case next week on Apple Store.

Apple will NEVER admit this as an issue they can cover under warranty. I wouldn't do it... Simply because if they would do that, that's an open door for any esthetical issue... remember the iPhone 5.... However there might be some anodisation issues with some manufacturing lots... we can only hope that our iPhone 7 is not part of them.... I switched from a Silver to a black mat recently, so I am usually very cautious with my iPhones but this time I am checking it regularly... so far no problem, fingers crossed... I have friends with the same model and they have no issue neither.... I have heard we could potentially have 70% risks to have a bad iPhone 7 black mat... well, 78 mios iPhone 7 sold and a majority of black mat... if 70% would have that issues, that would be a sea of people coming back with their chipping phone ;-)

I can completely understand the frustration of people where it really happened with their phone but there might be some trolling around.... well... I just shared my opinion, if some really had chipping paint on their iPhone 7 I hope they can do something with the Apple customer care which is one of the best service...

Apple SHOULD admit at least to their support team this is an issue and cover for this in warranty... if some models (or manufacturing lots of one model) of iPhone 7 Plus Black matte has a small % of anodisation problems it MUST be covered by Apple Warranty. We agree on that, right?

I agree that apple should indeed investigate if there was an anidisation issue on some lots and if proven, they have to recall these lots. Now saying that they to add "chipping paint" under their warranty, they would shoot in their own foot... So I am sure they will not use these terms, probably "commercial gesture" or "customer convenience"

Apple didn't get to be the successful and commanding presence in the technology world by giving away free stuff. In addition, how do you intend to prove that this chipping is not the result of accidental damage? It's not that your claims are unbelievable, but also consider this from Apple's perspective and what you might do in their shoes.

This is fairly easy to prove. Accidental damage has more than paint chipping off. There would be a dent, a scratch or anything similar in or around the chipped area. Any expert anodiser or anodising assessor could easily tell the difference, as already found in the discussion here.

I totally get Apple's perspective, but they knew the risk, just like Samsung did with the Note 7. The risk of drawing an angry mob is way higher if they don't acknowledge that this is a processing error from their side.

What they have to do though is train the Apple Store people well to tell accidental damage apart from anodising failure.

I guess its normal to happen like that. I was in dilemma between matte and jet black, decided to buy matte but as they did not have in stock had to purchase jetblack. I used 1 week without case and back of the phone is scratched. I really dont understand when you are paying 800 - 900 usd or whatever and they cant solve this problem. Most probably its a strategy 😟

I don't think they anticipated the anodisation issue... that's really too bad it happened and I don't believe it's a strategy... I just hope there is a good outcome fair for us, the customer, and to not expose Apple too much, also victim of their manufacturing plants in China...