Sony’s current flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z1 (technically the Z1s in the United States), has a very handsome industrial design. It’s essentially a glass slab on the front, a glass slab on the back, all held together by an aluminum frame. According to the Sony fan site Xperia Blog, that aluminum frame is causing some serious issues. Sony has apparently used a grade of aluminum so soft that multiple Z1 owners are reporting that their device is bending.
How big of a problem is this? Let me repeat myself in case you missed it the first time: Z1 owners are reporting that their phones are bending. Forget Apple’s iPhone 4 losing signal if you hold the device wrong. Forget Samsung’s Galaxy phones exploding because the batteries are of poor quality. Sony’s phones are structurally failing because Sony went with a cheap form of aluminum instead of something more robust.
What should you do if you have a bent Sony Xperia Z1? If the store where you purchased your device from refuses to give you a replacement or refund your money, I’d start emailing Sony every day until they give you a response. This is beyond unacceptable, and I’m shocked this defect wasn’t detected, especially considering that Sony probably had to test the Z1 for ruggedness since it’s allegedly waterproof.
