Is this a widespread problem, or just a few isolated incidents accompanied buy loud complaints?

Or is this a case of being sure to NEVER buy a Rev.A Mac? Tempting as they may be?

I ordered a custom iMac that was not a Core i5 or i7 model and it came with a cracked display (lower left hand corner), so I think this issue is not limited to the Core i5 and i7 models...

I have bought a lot of RevA machines with no trouble, though always at the store. Never one that was shipped to me. Makes you wonder how they are being manhandled by the delivery companies.

The box should be able to stand being thrown around in a UPS truck. If not, the box is at fault (unless Apple puts a big "Danger. Fragile. Handle with Care." sticker on the side. Which no one will look at anyway.

i find it odd that it's always the same corner. again, makes me wonder if it's happening after it leaves Apple.

Just to be clear, very few, if any, computers 'leave' Apple, as they are never at Apple to begin with. Most are shipped directly from China to you. Others go to the various sellers and then shipped to you.

Either way, a shipping box is not meant to be a 'work of art' as Apple treats it, but as a way of safely and securely transporting the contents to their destination. If the computers keep cracking, they may want to look at adding some more packaging materials in there or something.

I received mine here in Canada, it shipped from Shanghai, and is in excellent shape.
I can see why you "could" have a cracked screen, knowing that the computer rests on its four edges in the middle of the box (the pedestal doesn't touch the box).
I wonder if having an inflated plastic bag or more soft foam would help to prevent damage?
It is a very heavy computer though!

It's the revenge of the matte screen warriors.

...would I suspect allow an easy upsell for many given the performance improvement of the i7...?

So is this LCD damage or the glass cover over the display? Seems bizarre the LCD screen would crack before the glass cover.

Mine arrived yesterday with no problems.

Apple -- "It Just Works, ----Except When It Doesn't"

It's highly likely that a pallet of iMacs were dropped. If the pallet is shrink-wrapped, the boxes could appear okay, but there could easily be internal damage to the computers due to the high shock forces. No matter how good the packaging (and apparently the packaging held-up fine in the cases described) circuit boards and large glass sheets will crack under high shock loads.

Remember, the iMac Core i5 and iMac Core i7 motherboards are psychically identical. Only the features inside the chips (and the clock speed) are different! So there is no relationship between the cracked screens and the CPU!