Ignore an issue that affects .000001% of the consumer? And ignore all of the feedback? There might be an issue, but I don't think phones bend on their own any more than cars dent on their own. I don't know how many people are affected by this; you can certainly try to guesstimate out of the 50 million iphone 6 and 6+ that were sold. What I don't understand is how you know apple is making minimal changes on a future iteration of the product, and of the changes that they are making some aren't maybe to strengthen the case?
Ah, therein probably lies the confusion. I am speaking of Apple products on the whole, not specifically the iPhone 6/6+ and bending.
For example, one particular LCD manufacturer in China turned out a bad batch of 17" screens for the 17" PowerBook G4. Customer complaints were loud and frequent because these displays very quickly failed.
Apple censored any posts about it in their discussion forums and denied warranty claims to Apple customers with the problem.
The iPhone 5 and scuffgate. Apple denied any issue. Schiller famously tweeted that scratching would happen with use. For Apple it wasn't a publicly acknowledged problem. Their minor modification was to remove black as a color with the 5s.
So, bent iPhone 6's and 6+'s. Publicly Apple doesn't acknowledge the problem, but they replace anyway (most of the time) while making a minor change of strengthening the case with the next iteration.
Either the problem is small, as you indicate, or not enough people complaining and affecting the bottom line.
Apple has been moved before and that was because public image affected the bottom line. Apple Maps for instance, and antennagate with the iPhone 4.
