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Consumer Reports: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Not as Bendable as Believed

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You dumb ****s, you can still bend your phone considering how much you weight and depends on the object you are applying force on. I bent my iPhone 6 and I weight 185 lbs and 5'-11". Considering my ass taking half my weight with normal jeans, that's 92.5 lbs of force. Now consider an average adult weights about 140 lbs to 210 lbs..
 
rGiskard said:
Here's a summary of the design flaw as I see it:

Here is the weak point as viewed externally.
View attachment 497845

From iFixit's teardown, here are the internal reenforcements.
View attachment 497846

Note that Apple chose to use a series of short steel plates in lieu of a single continuous steel plate. Had they chose the latter, the phone would not have pivot points at the ends of each plate. The meager reenforcements are "good enough," save a few cents, and make for a slightly lighter phone. A continuous steel angle or I-beam could have been used without altering the size of the phone and would have resulted in a virtually unbendable device. They probably used a formula to predict the cost of iPhone replacements vs. increased manufacturing costs, yet Apple's reputation was not factored in. It's a typical American business mistake - even Apple is not immune.

As a result of Apple's flawed design (under a test that doesn't even exploit the weak discontinuity at the volume buttons), the competition is about 150% more resistant to bending:
View attachment 497847

In only a few days, we already have 9-10 reported iPhone bends. Stress is additive for aluminum, so with time phones will grow more prone to bending. Figure that for several years, each person with a bent iPhone will show it to everyone he knows, and factor in the social media amplification, and the result is irrepairable harm to Apple's reputation as a maker of high end quality products.

The diminished reputation occures with people see others with bent phones. Whether it is "stupid" to carry a phone in one's pocket is irrelevant, since all that matters is what other people see. Take a cashier who sees mobile phones all day long: if he sees more bent iPhones, he'll reach a conclusion. This is why a rigid phone is so important to Apple's reputation. Surely any Apple defender wants Apple to do well - I know I do as a longtime Mac user.
Click to expand...

Beautifully said, I hope Apple takes positive action not just more lip service.

I think back to the old "Antennagate" issue years ago. If memory serves, I don't believe Apple issued a recall, I thought the antenna issue was addressed in the next iPhone and we were simply told to "hold the phone" in a different matter.

My guess is that Apple will say the iPhone 6/6+ is designed with adequate strength for common use (in their opinion of course). Unlike Antennagate, this possible design issue can be physically seen, photographed and videoed, that was virtually impossible with Antennagate. So this problem can (is) spreading like wildfire on the Internet and across network television. Because of the visual cues associated with this issue, if the story persists/grows, this could be far worse than Antennagate.
 
rGiskard said:
Here's a summary of the design flaw as I see it:

Here is the weak point as viewed externally.
View attachment 497845

From iFixit's teardown, here are the internal reenforcements.
View attachment 497846

Note that Apple chose to use a series of short steel plates in lieu of a single continuous steel plate. Had they chose the latter, the phone would not have pivot points at the ends of each plate. The meager reenforcements are "good enough," save a few cents, and make for a slightly lighter phone. A continuous steel angle or I-beam could have been used without altering the size of the phone and would have resulted in a virtually unbendable device. They probably used a formula to predict the cost of iPhone replacements vs. increased manufacturing costs, yet Apple's reputation was not factored in. It's a typical American business mistake - even Apple is not immune.

As a result of Apple's flawed design (under a test that doesn't even exploit the weak discontinuity at the volume buttons), the competition is about 150% more resistant to bending:
View attachment 497847

In only a few days, we already have 9-10 reported iPhone bends. Stress is additive for aluminum, so with time phones will grow more prone to bending. Figure that for several years, each person with a bent iPhone will show it to everyone he knows, and factor in the social media amplification, and the result is irrepairable harm to Apple's reputation as a maker of high end quality products.

The diminished reputation occures with people see others with bent phones. Whether it is "stupid" to carry a phone in one's pocket is irrelevant, since all that matters is what other people see. Take a cashier who sees mobile phones all day long: if he sees more bent iPhones, he'll reach a conclusion. This is why a rigid phone is so important to Apple's reputation. Surely any Apple defender wants Apple to do well - I know I do as a longtime Mac user.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.
 
all of you, including the apple fanboys and especially android fans, need to get a effing life, how the hell do you guys devote this much time n effort to this. And yes everything in my house is apple other than a old laptop. You all make it personal like it's your gf cheating on you or someone called her a whale.
 
calzon65 said:
I think I met that guy at the fair.

----------



I've always put the display facing my body.
Click to expand...

He seems legitimate. He only has a couple teeth, and what appears to be a small thumb growing out of his forehead. But he's consistent.
 
tooRiski said:
all of you, including the apple fanboys and especially android fans, need to get a effing life, how the hell do you guys devote this much time n effort to this. And yes everything in my house is apple other than a old laptop. You all make it personal like it's your gf cheating on you or someone called her a whale.
Click to expand...

Here here. Often ashamed to 'be seen' with Apple stuff these days. Guilty by association.
 
apple8674 said:
You dumb ****s, you can still bend your phone considering how much you weight and depends on the object you are applying force on. I bent my iPhone 6 and I weight 185 lbs and 5'-11". Considering my ass taking half my weight with normal jeans, that's 92.5 lbs of force. Now consider an average adult weights about 140 lbs to 210 lbs..
Click to expand...

Your physics is weigh off. Caught the pun#

Half your weight isn't applied to your butt every time you sit and not everyone is evenly distributed like that.

Also your butt spreads out and displaced your weight over a wide area which means less weight on the actual phone

Lastly your butt is soft even if you're a skinny hipster. So the phones rigidity is pushing back on your butt.

Again. This is all moot because people are just making things up now.
 
wao 40/60lb of force less than the iPhone 5. They went from 130 to 90/70

Almost half the strength in the 6.
 
yansun said:
I assume you can't see it here too (he posted pictures too)? https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/19935054/
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Nope, you're wrong, I actually can see the screen separation clearly, and that sucks. The actual bend is harder to identify, but if my eye aren't playing tricks on me, his is the actual first phone to show a phone bent in the way you would expect it to be, i.e. away from the glass instead of into it. Appears much more legitimate that any other claimed front pocket only bending. Then again, his front pockets are huge, they go almost to his knees.

I'll do my own unscientific exercise when I get mine to see how much my mileage varies...
 
Last edited:
apple8674 said:
You dumb ****s, you can still bend your phone considering how much you weight and depends on the object you are applying force on. I bent my iPhone 6 and I weight 185 lbs and 5'-11". Considering my ass taking half my weight with normal jeans, that's 92.5 lbs of force. Now consider an average adult weights about 140 lbs to 210 lbs..
Click to expand...

You are not supposed to put any smartphone in your ass pocket.
 
Carlanga said:
wao 40/60lb of force less than the iPhone 5. They went from 130 to 90/70

Almost half the strength in the 6.
Click to expand...

I think the issue is more of what amount of strength is enough. Maybe the iPhone 5 was too strong, maybe the iPhone 6 is not strong enough. I have an iPhone 5S and am waiting to see how this whole thing flushes out before upgrading to the 6, but from the videos and discussion, the 6 might be too weak.
 
None of this ruins the best experience i ever had on a smartphone overal with these new iPhones, amazing to hold and have incredible hardware in them and the screens are cream of the crop
 
Digital Skunk said:
Your physics is weigh off. Caught the pun

Half your weight isn't applied to your butt every time you sit and not everyone is evenly distributed like that.

Also your butt spreads out and displaced your weight over a wide area which means less weight on the actual phone

Lastly your butt is soft even if you're a skinny hipster. So the phones rigidity is pushing back on your butt.

Again. This is all moot because people are just making things up now.
Click to expand...
Actually, sitting on the phone in pants is akin to applying a UDL. Mostly, across the span of an object, it's response to load is linear and you get a "linear" reaction......except in the case of the iphone which has this local weakness the the stress concentration is higher at the point in discussion, the reaction of the loading becomes non linear and you get a permanent deformation.

Obviously
 
tooRiski said:
all of you, including the apple fanboys and especially android fans, need to get a effing life, how the hell do you guys devote this much time n effort to this. And yes everything in my house is apple other than a old laptop. You all make it personal like it's your gf cheating on you or someone called her a whale.
Click to expand...

The same way you do man.
 
richardsonrs said:
I am not replacing a second phone. I am replacing a phone that has been bent twice.. The second time was not as bad as the first, I was at work and didn't have a second phone to take a pic with..
Click to expand...

No I got you now, I obviously misread you there, wasn't the only one either it seems. Also started this post before you posted your close up pictures.
 
Bahroo said:
None of this ruins the best experience i ever had on a smartphone overal with these new iPhones, amazing to hold and have incredible hardware in them and the screens are cream of the crop
Click to expand...

Ya, don't let a few ruin it for you. Same thing happened with the 4 and the antenna, the 5 bending, etc. I usually dont make big purchase decisions based on forums or poorly done YouTube videos. This isn't the rule, just mostly exceptions...
 
calzon65 said:
I wonder if the glass facing out or in while in your back pocket makes any difference.
Click to expand...

It does in the way that it would theoretically bend. All pictures up to now, before richardsonrs' showed a phone that would have had to be put in a front pocket with the glass facing away from the leg. Now we finally have someone posting with a bend that would suggest the more normal glass facing towards the leg scenario.
 
Bahroo said:
None of this ruins the best experience i ever had on a smartphone overal with these new iPhones, amazing to hold and have incredible hardware in them and the screens are cream of the crop
Click to expand...

I completely agree. These are awesome phones and I don't think the bendgate issue will affect sales significantly at all. Apple did a fantastic job. The people who decide to sit on their phones can face the consequences. But, they can't say they didn't see it coming. Who actually sits on their electronics?
 
nefan65 said:
Ya, don't let a few ruin it for you. Same thing happened with the 4 and the antenna, the 5 bending, etc. I usually dont make big purchase decisions based on forums or poorly done YouTube videos. This isn't the rule, just mostly exceptions...
Click to expand...

Never had a issue with my iPhone 4 and my 4.7 inch 6 feels very solid and sturdy in hand, no bend at all and i had it for a week, not worried about that ****, like seriously if it was so easy to bend like everyone is saying, then it would be a epic huge collosal fail on Apples part that this got completly missed through QC testing of the device, that just seems almost impossible honestly
 
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