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TechCrunch reports on a lawsuit being brought against Apple by owners of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus who say a design defect causes the touchscreens to become unresponsive. The loss of responsiveness is often preceded by a flickering gray bar appearing across the top of the screen. iFixit discusses a few possible sources of the "Touch Disease" problem, with the most popular theory being that the Touch IC chips lose contact with the logic board due to the phone bending.
The complaint [PDF], filed in California's Northern District federal court, alleges that Apple is aware of the design flaw and has concealed it from consumers by refusing to acknowledge or repair it. It also suggests that the 5s and 5c protected against this problem in various ways, so it's not as if Apple didn't know it was a possibility. The 6s and Plus got stiffened to prevent bending, as well.
(Score: 2) by quitte on Wednesday August 31 2016, @06:29PM
After quite a bit of taking off components from iphone boards I'm convinced this issue is bigger than touchscreens failing: Their soldering process is flawed. There are lots and lots of ESD protection diodes with cold joints that get just blown away by the hot air once the underfill is gone. Similarly lots of pads that were never wet. The underfill is used to _make_ electrical contact instead of improving resistance against cracking and improving water resistance.
In my opinion this can be solved even with a lead free process. Just make damn sure the solder wets.