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SomeDudeAsking

macrumors 65816
Nov 23, 2010
1,250
2
Because putting 150, 180, 200 + lbs on top of a phone is not normal use, no matter how many people do it. That is not how you treat little electronic devices who's main feature is a glass screen. Hell, that's not how I would treat my little iPod shuffle either. The only thing that ever goes in my back pocket is my wallet.

Samsung tests the durability of their Android phones with a mechanically weighted butt that sits on the phone. Maybe Apple should learn something from Samsung about durability.
 

Aaronneil

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 17, 2012
6
0
The first thing I do when I buy my iphone was to test it if it was not bend.

You need to check this before you leave the store with your new iphone 5.

I am sure they will give you a new one, but if you are buying a new iphone 5 check this first.

Yeah.. I never thought there was an issue about the iPhone being bent. I have all iPhone generation including the very first iPhone which is also built with aluminum materials, I always put it in front of my tight jeans' front pocket and it never bends.. I already warned my family about the issue including my friends and colleagues. And I hope all iPhone 5 soon to be owners in the whole planet.. I am dissapointed with Apple even if I'm a fan. ;(
 

maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
it's not even bent at the normal spot everyone else's is. This appears to be bent almost exactly at the halfway mark.

Where is the "normal spot" that everyone else's iPhone 5 is bent?

When observing how others carry their phones, it' seems to an extremely common practice for young girls from high school age through college, to carry it in the back pocket of their pants. If the iPhone 5 is carried there I wonder how easily it bends. Anyone know?

iPhone 4 and 4S, models seemed to survive that method of carrying just fine.
 
S

syd430

Guest
When observing how others carry their phones, it' seems to an extremely common practice for young girls from high school age through college, to carry it in the back pocket of their pants. .

Are you sure you were just observing to see how they carry their phones? ;)
 

vastoholic

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2009
1,957
1
Tulsa, OK
Where is the "normal spot" that everyone else's iPhone 5 is bent?

Since I had a little break from this site I decided to put together a little picture story of the bent phone claims that I could find on here that had any sort of picture or supporting evidence and wasn't just a single post from a random person inside an existing thread.

This is meant to show that the normal spot is near the volume buttons and in most cases, visible signs of stress are present indicating probable user fault. There are a few of these examples that I believe could have (and some have basically proven in this thread) that they came that way out of the box and there is usually a great visible difference in the type of bend in those instances.

(Case #1)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1449978/
8293429108_c3de8c84ea_b.jpg


Friend received destroyed package from FedEx and phone came out this way. Provided no evidence of the box. Thread died and no resolve was found from the OP. Bent at the volume button. Small enough bend that yes it could have been done inside the package. But the story didn’t quite add up.

(Case #2)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1493448/
8292376195_dd81dd9a48_h.jpg


Hard to tell here. OP says it was recently purchased and they just noticed it one day. Only a slight indication of stress at the volume button. Could have easily came that way in the box. Good example.

(Case #3)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1502748/

No pictures anymore so I can’t provide visual of what the phone looks like. However it was obvious that it was not like that out of the box.

(Case #4)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1452478/
8292376303_25b08fa9b5_h.jpg


Hard to tell from the picture what is going on, but it’s obviously around the volume button as the OP describes. Says it came that way and date of post is consistent with the story. Small enough bend that it could have came that way in the box.

Case #5)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1494118/
8292376347_7f39f6c48d_o.jpg


OP claims it came out of his otterbox like this. Bent again at the volume button. Almost hard to see, but you can make out from the picture the stress point by the volume button. Would have been noticeable if it was like that out of the box.

(Case #6)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1459792/
8293429454_8280ba96ed_h.jpg


OP says it bent in his front pocket. Clear fracture/stress mark at volume button. Would have been noticeable if it came that way in the box.

(Case #7)
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16149417/
8293430214_08fc00554e_o.jpg


OP claims it magically bent overnight while he was sleeping. Obvious stress mark at the volume button. Obviously not done during production and didn’t come that way in the box.

(Case #8)
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16194084/
8293429494_a3f98acbcc_o.jpg


No story, just a link to twitter by the OP of the thread. Obviously didn’t come like this is box.

(Case #9)
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16224559/
8292377167_8678ddfdb4_b.jpg


OP claims in was in her purse and it magically bent at the volume button.

(Case #10)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1509457/
8292377075_f4490f0f62_h.jpg


OP says purchased 3 hours ago. Noticed it out of the box. Valid claim. No stress marks. Bent in the middle of the phone instead of at the volume buttons.

(Case #11)
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16517709/
8293429908_a48ecb1695_b.jpg


OP was brought this as a replacement phone. Noticed and took pictures in the store. Hard to tell exactly where the bend is occurring but OP says near the volume buttons. No visible stress marks.

(Case #12)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1465403/
8292376781_806412a863_h.jpg

8293429700_882fec070e_h.jpg


Who can forget the amazing spontaneously separating iPhone. User acknowledged it did not come out of the box like this. Obvious stress marks near volume button.
 

AFDoc

Suspended
Jun 29, 2012
2,864
629
Colorado Springs USA for now
- Haha yes, the customer service lady told me good thing I am OC when it comes to these things. I said yes i am, specially wen it comes to gadgets. I love to compare them and look at them all the time. Lol

Obiously you're not OC about gadgets or you would of noticed it was bent out of the box. Not saying you knew you did it and are lying, simply lumping you in with most of the others that say they have no clue how it happened. With no better "excuse" for the reason it must of been that way OOB.

@ above I believe the gently rounded with no stress points can be explained by but not exclusive to this explanation. A large bottome person places the phone in a rear pocket and bends/sits. The roundness of the bottom with the most likely tightness of the rear pants pocket would put even stress over the length of the device and not necessarily show a specific stress point. It would IMHO be possible to stress the phone slightly over its length to produce such a bend. I just don't see OP, being as OC as they say would not of noticed this out of the box. It's obvious by looking at the picture so would of easily been seen when checking over the phone.

Obviously the phone bends easier than most but it's a phone not an anvil. What are you people doing to abuse... yes abuse the phone in order for it to bend. Now don't give me X phone doesn't bend if I do the same exact thing..... Ok great. This phone does not bend when subjected to normal use. You know how I know.... Millions of people aren't blowing up the interwebs with stories of bent iPhones. So obviously the very very minority are doing something unusual with their phones to have them bend in such ways.

After seeing these images, no matter what the cause, it's very discouraging to see. Perhaps Apple will reconsider it's ongoing obsession with thin devices.
It shouldn't be discouraging as these phones are the very slim minority, not the rule. I will however agree 100% with you when it comes to the thin phone obsession.... this however is not an Apple issue it's a consumer issue. Read back on ANY iPhone/iPad/iPod unveiling thread. How many people B&M about how it's not thin enough. I thought the 4/4s was just fine.
 
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maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
After seeing these images, no matter what the cause, it's very discouraging to see. Perhaps Apple will reconsider it's ongoing obsession with thin devices.
 

mchnc

macrumors member
Dec 31, 2012
30
0
Made a quick FEA for iPhone5 shell. Model doesn't have much details but may represent quite well the stress concentration at the edge of volume button hole. For an accurate analysis would need exact dimensions. Load case is such that shell is smoothly clamped from bottom area (up to 60 mm from bottom) and load is distributed on topsurface.

10N force (1kg, about the weight of 6 Lumia 920 bricks) results a stress of about 60MPa at the edge of volume down button opening. That is about the yield point of 6061 in non-tempered condition. It doesn't look good very good to me and I wonder why they didn't for example change the volume button to a thin rocker type to have more material at the cross section.



 
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Cod3rror

macrumors 68000
Apr 18, 2010
1,773
82
Here a question,

iPod Touch 5G is thinner than the iPhone 5, does it have any bending issues? Haven't read anything like this about it.
 

Jalopybox

macrumors 6502a
Nov 13, 2012
699
5
Going with a T6 6061 would have cost apple only few cents more. That would have increases the hardness of the material 3 fold and helped with bending. That cross section at the volume buttons is just insanely deficient though.
 

mchnc

macrumors member
Dec 31, 2012
30
0
Modified the shell model to represent iPod, which has different design for volume buttons. There was less good pictures of inner details available, so this is even a bit more guesstimate than the iPhone shell FEA. The load case is the same. Because the openings are longer the stress spreads a little better and there is also bit more material in the cross section. The highest stress appears to be about 50MPa (compared to 60MPa for iPhone shell under same load). But it is rough model so not an accurate estimate...

 

vastoholic

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2009
1,957
1
Tulsa, OK
Made a quick FEA for iPhone5 shell. Model doesn't have much details but may represent quite well the stress concentration at the edge of volume button hole. For an accurate analysis would need exact dimensions. Load case is such that shell is smoothly clamped from bottom area (up to 60 mm from bottom) and load is distributed on topsurface.

10N force (1kg, about the weight of 6 Lumia 920 bricks) results a stress of about 60MPa at the edge of volume down button opening. That is about the yield point of 6061 in non-tempered condition. It doesn't look good very good to me and I wonder why they didn't for example change the volume button to a thin rocker type to have more material at the cross section.

[url=http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/4846/iphonefea1.jpg]Image[/URL]

[url=http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4974/iphonefea2.jpg]Image[/URL]

What your models don't account for though, are the internals being in place. And no offense, but who are you? Why should we all believe that you've made an accurate model just because you show some pretty pictures? Where is the actual data from this test?

I again ask you both, where is the actual proof of the type of aluminum alloy being used by apple? The only thing that has been released is "anodized 6000 series". Show me where you've discovered that its non-tempered blah blah blah. So far no one has been able to do that. Everyone avoids the question.
 

Rocko1

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2011
2,070
4
Made a quick FEA for iPhone5 shell. Model doesn't have much details but may represent quite well the stress concentration at the edge of volume button hole. For an accurate analysis would need exact dimensions. Load case is such that shell is smoothly clamped from bottom area (up to 60 mm from bottom) and load is distributed on topsurface.

10N force (1kg, about the weight of 6 Lumia 920 bricks) results a stress of about 60MPa at the edge of volume down button opening. That is about the yield point of 6061 in non-tempered condition. It doesn't look good very good to me and I wonder why they didn't for example change the volume button to a thin rocker type to have more material at the cross section.

[url=http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/4846/iphonefea1.jpg]Image[/URL]

[url=http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4974/iphonefea2.jpg]Image[/URL]

I assume they wanted to keep the volume button style the same at all costs.
 

Mrg02d

macrumors 65816
Jan 27, 2012
1,102
2
What stumps me is the lack of damage to the glass. Enough force to bend the aluminum and sometimes separate the screen from the back but not crack the glass?
 

mchnc

macrumors member
Dec 31, 2012
30
0
What your models don't account for though, are the internals being in place. And no offense, but who are you? Why should we all believe that you've made an accurate model just because you show some pretty pictures? Where is the actual data from this test?

I again ask you both, where is the actual proof of the type of aluminum alloy being used by apple? The only thing that has been released is "anodized 6000 series". Show me where you've discovered that its non-tempered blah blah blah. So far no one has been able to do that. Everyone avoids the question.

As a profession I'm a design engineer with about 20 years of experience in design of different kinds of heavier equipment than phones. Did I give an impression that the models were accurate? Wasn't my intention...
(model and analysis was created in about 30 minutes, on 'coffee' break... and about significance of other parts to bending resistance, I thought about it and of course the display glass can be considered as structural part, but it seems ultimately to pop off. For other, electrical internal, parts I suspect that there is no significant structural role given)

The pictures of bended phones make me suspect that the aluminium is not tempered. That because there is signs of plastical deformation. In tempered (T4 or T6) condition the 6061 is quite brittle and cracks sharply.
 
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