Apple's Woes on New iPhone Models
posted Saturday Oct 5, 2013 by Scott Ertz
The recent launch of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c have not been without the infamous Apple disasters. From the iPhone 4 antenna issues, Apple Maps overall inaccuracy and the myriad of iPhone 5 issues, including camera and in-box scratching, Apple has not had a good phone launch in a while. For once, Apple has launched 2 new handsets together, and both are having their own individual problems.
iPhone 5s
The iPhone 5s' problem is one that will affect the end-user, so let's start there. As it turns out, the hardware sensors in the new flagship phone might very well be wrong. Users have posted on the Apple forums complaining of issues with their sensors, especially the level, motion and acceleration sensors. Gizmodo decided to put these claims to the test and have confirmed the reports.
To duplicate the issues, all you have to do is load any level app and set an iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s side-by-side on the same surface. The problem is unlikely to be caused by software, as iPhones of previous versions running iOS 7 and testing in the same applications return expected data, leaving the problem specific to the new model.
If I had to take a wild stab in the dark, I would say that there is something wrong with the new sensor co-processor installed in the phones. So, if the problem is with the hardware itself, how do you solve it? The easy answer is, you can't without a complete hardware recall. Of course, Apple, who has been pretending to be a premium brand, loses the ability to make those claims if they recall an entire generation of devices over a hardware defect.
Apple has not commented on the issue.
iPhone 5c
The problems with the iPhone 5c are not in the same realm - instead of hardware failures, the iPhone that breaks all of the rules of what makes an Apple product is seeing sales failures. Apple announced opening weekend iPhone sales of 9 million handsets, but refuses to break out the two models individually. A refusal of this type usually indicates data the company doesn't want to admit to, like incredibly poor sales.
To corroborate that theory, we are seeing some massive price breaks in the iPhone 5c starting this weekend. Target has discounted the phone to $79.99, while RadioShack and Best Buy are offering a $50 gift card with purchase, and Wal-Mart is down to $45 after initially discounting the phone to $79 on launch day.
I had suspected that launching a new handset that went against all of Steve Jobs' philosophies would not pan out for the company, and it appears that the suspicion was correct. Maybe Apple can learn something from BlackBerry and stick to what you know.
