WARNING!!! Defective Apple watches - Fake Ion-X glass - Bait-and-Switch - Pending Class action lawsuit
Apple claims to uses 2 different types of glass for their apple watch. Sapphire glass and Ion-X glass. Sapphire glass is defined as "a synthetically produced crystal second only to diamond in its hardness, making it extremely durable. It is typically grown in cylindrical sticks called boules, and is slow, expensive and energy-intensive to produce". This definition can be found at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/picture-galleries/11145375/What-is-sapphire-glass-in-pictures.html . Ion-X glass is advertised as "Tests show that the ion x glass can withstand 2.5 times more weight in a bend than the sapphire. If you drop an Apple Watch with Ion x glass, the display does not crack quite as fast as an Apple Watch with sapphire." This quote can be found at https://www.glaz-screen-protector.com/blog/ion-x-glass-vs-sapphire-which-is-the-better-display-glass/ .
Therefore, since Sapphire glass is almost as hard as a diamond, and Ion-X glass is 2.5 times more durable than Sapphire glass, then you should be able to smash an aluminum Apple watch (Ion-X glass) with a hammer and nothing will happen, right? Unfortunately, the opposite is true... The aluminum Apple watch (Ion-X glass) screen will shatter with normal/average contact. My wife received an Apple watch for Christmas and when she put it on her wrist, the watch slipped and fell a few inches on the countertop and the screen shattered and Apple wants $300 to replace the screen of a $400 watch!!! But what about Apple's Ion-X glass? It appears that the Ion-X glass screens are either defective, or Apple is doing the old "Bait-and-Switch" and using cheap glass instead of their advertised Ion-X glass! Even one of the Apple reps I spoke with said the Ion-X glass screen should not shatter.
On December 26th, 2018 at 12:02pm, I called Apple (713-986-2476), went thought the automated prompts and eventually spoke with Heather Talon with Apple and explained what happened. Heather informed me that customers should expect the Apple watch screen to shatter if dropping it a few inches (THAT IS NOT HOW THE ION-X GLASS IS ADVERTISED BY APPLE!). That the watch is glass and I should expect it to break from light use, similar to dropping a drinking glass a few inches. I insisted that the watch screen must be defective because Apple uses Ion-X glass, but Heather Talon was not sympathetic and offered no solution, except to pay Apple $300 to replace the screen. Heather Talon also said that "there is No Record of defective Apple watch screens" and that this would be considered an "accident" and not covered under Apple's 1 year hardware warranty. I mentioned to Heather Talon that I feel that I should warn the public on social media about the watch being so delicate (Apple using fake/faulty Ion-X glass) and to be prepared to throw your Apple watch in the trash and Heather replied that she "does not do social media". After ending our conversation, I Googled "Apple watch" and the second item to auto populate was... "Apple Watch Defective Screen"! That is when I learned the history of the Apple Watch Screen issues and the class action lawsuit against Apple for their defective watch screens. With a class action lawsuit pending, how is Heather Talon not aware of the Apple watch screen failures???
I then contacted Apple online (12/26/2018) and explained everything again. I received a call from Apple (1800-692-7753 Dec 26th 2018) at 3:28 pm and spoke with Michael. Michael did acknowledge the pending Apple watch screen litigation and agreed that the screen should not shatter after dropping the Apple watch a few inches. "Great! Then Apple will replace the screen at no charge, right?" Michael responded "No" and that I will have to pay out of pocket to have the screen replaced even though Michael confirmed that the screen should not have shattered! After doing more online research I found out that Apple seems to have a policy of not standing behind defective products. To quote "Apple has not acknowledged a problem, and when confronted with the defect, its conduct indicates that its internal policy is to deny the existence of the defect, claim the defect is the result of 'accidental damage' caused by consumers, and then refuse to honor its limited warranty on those grounds, lawyers for plaintiff Kenneth Sciacca argued." This was taken from an article that can be found at https://www.thestar.com/life/homes/2018/12/24/apple-denies-watch-defect-that-sees-screen-break-but-makes-time-to-fix-it.html
I then contacted the BBB and Apple's response was "Apple does not deem the Apple Watch Series 4 display damage, as described by the customer, to be attributed to a manufacturer's defect. This issue is the result of an accident, abuse, misuse, or other external cause. Apple, based on the terms and conditions of the Apple One (1) Year Limited Warranty, declines the customer's request read more