Some users find scuffs, nicks on newly-purchased iPhone 5s

An increasing number of iPhone 5 owners are reporting scuffs and other signs of damage to their newly-purchased smartphones right out of the box, with some miffed customers taking to the web in what is being dubbed "scuffgate."

According to complaints posted to various forums and social media sites, a limited number of launch-day iPhone 5 units are being delivered straight from the factory with scuffs and dings.

While the exact percentage of affected iPhones is unknown, the issue appears to be significant enough to warrant its own hashtag on Twitter. The tongue-in-cheek "#Scuffgate" is a callback to the iPhone 4's "antennagate" controversy which saw the then-new handset ship with an antenna design flaw that affected cellular performance.