Are Your Jeans Discolouring Your iPhone 6’s Plastic Strips?

Maura · Oct 23, 2014

BGR reports today on what appear to be yet more problems for those who like to casually stuff their iPhones in their pockets. Although carrying your iPhone in a pocket might not be the best way to protect your precious, and very expensive, device, it’s fair to say that many people do choose to do so, and it seems that could be a problem for jeans wearers.

According to BGR, several iPhone 6 owners that it has spoken to in the past few weeks have found that when they repeatedly place an uncovered iPhone 6 in the pocket of their denim jeans, the dye from the jeans is rubbing onto the plastic strips on the back of the phone. This apparently leaves the phone looking “dirty and old.”

Attempts to clean the plastic strips and return them to their former pristine glory using soap and other cleaning methods have apparently not been successful.

BGR even has photos of the damage, such as the one at the top of this post.

The BGR readers whose phones were affected in this way were told by Apple Support to scrub the back of the phones with cleaning products, but offered no more assistance beyond that.

So, is this an issue that Apple should be taking steps to address, or is it merely a question of iPhone owners being more careful about where they put their phones?

Source: BGR

Pinkpoison · Oct 23, 2014

I personally can't understand not protecting such an expensive device in some way, I have a bumper on mine, the screen is protected and when I go out with I cover it with a soft case even though it goes in my bag.
I really don't believe in taking chances lol.

Alude904 · Oct 23, 2014

Agree. It sounds like a user issue. Also, I assume these people are wearing very new jeans. Wash your jeans a couple times then it might not rub off on the phone

scifan57 · Oct 23, 2014

The indigo dye used in blue jeans is not colorfast and is subject to rapid fading and wear. Heat and moisture will cause the dye to migrate to anything that will absorb it, such as white clothing washed in the same load as a pair of jeans. Apparently the plastic insulating strips on the iPhone 6 and 6 plus are receptive to the indigo dye used in blue jeans.