Six months ago, we heard about some quality issues that were affecting Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc. A number of users were noticing that the phone’s plastic shell was cracking in one particular spot, a thin band of plastic bordering the top edged of the light sensor on the phone’s face. The presence of the crack didn’t appear to put the rest of the phone’s structural integrity at risk, but it’s certainly not what you expect to happen to a brand-new expensive piece of electronics. The issue never built up the kind of momentum necessary to warrant a recall, but we did hear of Sony Ericsson taking some steps to correct it, introducing a new front plate for the phone that would be used with handsets sent-in for repair. When the Arc S was released later last year, it was time to see if SE had learned its lesson. While the phone seemed to be holding-up fine at first, the chinks in its armor are now quite literally starting to show, with the very same defect now manifesting on the Arc S.

To Sony Ericsson’s credit, the Arc S has been out since October and we’re just learning about its cracks now; while the issue may not be totally fixed with the Arc S, it does seem to be more resilient than the original Arc to this specific sort of damage. Owners of the phone report that the crack has a knack for forming even when you attempt to protect the handset in a case.

Just as with the original Xperia Arc, your phone should continue to work just fine even if this little imperfection shows up. We just wish that Sony Ericsson might have put some more effort into preventing a problem that seems just as avoidable as it was predictable.

Source: Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog