Despite the use of so many cases, bumpers, and just being as careful as possible, sometimes we can’t avoid our smartphones getting damaged. It may not matter so much anymore after picking up a few battle scars, but that first time you mar the finish of your new phone with a scratch is just the worst. That’s why we look to solutions like Gorilla Glass and pick phones from manufacturers that feel solid and capable of standing up to a little abuse. One smartphone that’s not doing such a good job at that may be the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, with numerous owners reporting cracks in the phone’s plastic that keep creeping up in the same spot.

The problem area is just around the phone’s light sensor, to the left of the earpiece. Around the sensor’s IR-transparent window, there’s a relatively narrow region of plastic just above and below; it’s here that users are reporting the discovery of hairline cracks. Some Arc users don’t even notice any damage until it’s pointed out, while the cracks can be more noticeable in other cases.

There’s been no word from Sony Ericsson about the issue thus far, but the same type of damage turning up on multiple Arcs, in what looks like a very flimsy spot, suggests we may be looking at a manufacturing issue. A little thicker plastic or some reinforcement backing may have made the difference. If this does turn out to be SE’s fault, should it be responsible for repairing the damaged Arcs, or is this just a cosmetic imperfection and is largely a non-issue?

Source: Xperia Blog