Apple says iPhone 5 scratches are normal for aluminum products

There's a reason Apple sold millions of iPhone 5 shortly after its launch: Reviews of the device have generally been positive. That doesn't mean Apple's smoothly cruising its way to victory, though. There's been one persistent complaint among iPhone 5 owners that should make you think twice about pocketing that phone — it gets easily scratched, much more so than the older iPhones.

An iPhone 5 owner named Alex was so concerned about the issue that he emailed Apple's Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller to ask him if the company has any plans to fix it. Schiller's reply, which 9to5mac got a hold of, is probably not what you wanted to hear. His email reads: "Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal."

While it might be normal for aluminum to chip with use, the problem is how easy it is to scratch the iPhone 5. In the video below, for instance, a 2-year-old girl successfully scraped a lot of black paint off the device's back panel by applying what force toddlers are capable of. Our advice? Get a case for your new phone as soon as possible, or get a white iPhone so the chips and scratches you'll inevitably get won't be as noticeable.

[Image credit: Masaru Kamikura]
[via TechCrunch]

This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca

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