Apple managed to side-step the whole iPhone 4 antennagate issue rather well by giving away bumper cases to solve the problem, at least up until the end of last month. But now there appears to be another issue with the iPhone 4 on the horizon.
According to an article over on Engadget by Paul Miller, Ryan Block posted an article over on Gdgt, which apparently cites sources “inside and outside of Apple” that claim the iPhone maker has now stumbled upon a new weakness in the iPhone 4 design.
Apparently this new issue is caused by cases that aren’t bumpers and rather slide on cases, and if a particle of some description is trapped it can scratch the back of the handset when placing and removing said case. Gaining a few scratches is par for the course though and isn’t the main issue.
The main issue is that apparently the scratches can sometime lead to a full blown cracking or complete shattering of the iPhone 4 back panel; thus word has it Apple has halted offering 3rd-party cases for the time being, and has a new test program in place to gain some insight into this new issue.
No word on if this is a widespread issue with iPhone 4 users yet, but if any of our readers have experienced this type of issue with their iPhone 4 feel free to shout out in our comments area.