Internal documents indicate Apple knew iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus would bend, the fact it has not admitted publicly to this date. Nearly 1.5 years into the iPhone 6 cycle, the company made engineering changes by reinforcing the housing to prevent bending which may have caused the so-called “touch disease” issue that it’s now being sued over.
Apple’s new iPhone 7 & 7 Plus are just now starting to get into consumers’ hands, and as a result, the run of the mill stress and torture tests have been ongoing since the end of this past week.
The iPhone 7 has proved to be very reliable in water resistance testing, as well as in drop testing, but there are other forms of durability tests too that might tickle your interest.
Every iPhone generation has its own highly publicized “gate” issue and present-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are no exception. Unbox Therapy’s widely circulated Bendgate video made international headlines, became a topic of late evening news and provoked an official statement from Apple PR.
While I think Bendgate was a non-issue to begin with, the general public probably disagrees so it’s reassuring that Apple is adamant to put Bendgate to rest by giving the next iPhone a strengthened body made from the Apple Watch Sport’s custom aluminum alloy.
But just how Bendgate-proof an iPhone 6s case made from this custom alloy could be? Who better to ask than Unbox Therapy’s Lewis Hilsenteger who bent an iPhone 6 Plus with his bare hands?
Samsung may have won a contract to build Apple’s next-generation mobile processor for 2015 iPhones and iPads, but that’s not stopping the firm from milking the Bendgate meme for all it’s worth.
Having poked fun of Apple in a series of tweets after the controversial YouTube video suggested malleability of the iPhone 6 Plus, the South Korean firm on Thursday posted a two-minute video on its blog showing off the three-point bend test process behind its latest Galaxy Note 4 phablet.
The rigorous testing procedures have been designed “to give you, and your back pocket, peace of mind” because “leaving things in your back pocket can lead to, well, bent things,” remarked Samsung alluding to Bendgate.
Consumer Reports says the new iPhones “aren’t as bendy as believed,” after testing both handsets, alongside other top smartphones. Using a three-point flexural test, the outlet found that the iPhone 6 can withstand 70 pounds of pressure before deforming, and the 6 Plus can take up to 90.
That was good enough to beat HTC’s One (M8)—which makes this bendgate tweet a bit ironic—but both iPhones still finished well behind the LG G3 and Samsung’s Note 3. The bottom line, though, is Consumer Reports says it expects “that any of these phones should stand up to typical use.”
Everything started so well for Apple this week. After the launch of the company’s two new devices, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple revealed on Monday that this was the most successful iPhone launch ever, with 10 million units being sold during the opening weekend. The only thing that prevented Apple to sell more iPhones during that time was simply that they couldn’t make them fast enough. That’s a nice problem to have.
But then things started turning sour on Tuesday when the first reports of what is now commonly known and referred to as #bendgate emerged online. If the negative press about bendgate wasn’t enough, Apple shot itself in the foot on Wednesday when it released iOS 8.0.1, an update supposed to fix several bugs, but which turned out to be the biggest software release fiasco in modern Apple history.
With fanboys and Apple haters alike putting their own spin on both sides of the story, I thought I’d put some perspective to all this and share my thoughts on the situation.