Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 6 Plus Bending Limits Tested in New Video

Yeah the apple leather case is going back my $8 spigen clear plastic case came today and I feel like it provides way better support. Before I received my 6+ I Thought not carrying it in your pocket was crazy but the more I think about it the bigger the screen gets and thinner the device gets the more fragile these devices are going to become. You wouldn't carry an ipad in your pocket well sitting down without some type of protection. Just put a case with good support on it and be careful when sitting or bending with it in your pocket.
 
Wouldn't a test imply recreating the conditions of the initial problem?
He should've placed the phone in his front pocket and sat in different positions to see if it bent.
This test proves nothing except that he's able to ruin his own phone.
Congratulations.
 
I would have loved to see a test where they just put a little weight on each end of the phone for 12 hours or so to simulate the pressure of having it in a tight jeans pocket.

But yeah. For the sake of "science"... sure.
 
Science would have involved measuring the pressure it took to actually bend it d00d, not what you did, which was quite unscientific.
 
I have a 6+ on order currently. I'm also a mechanical engineer by day. I see a lot of "well duh if you bend it, it's going to bend" type comments, but it seems clear that this is something Apple overlooked. They should have predicted that under many normal circumstances people were going to put this phone in their front pockets. The phone shouldn't bend that easily. The guys phone was noticeably bent even before forcing it with his hands. Apple simply failed to analyze this scenario. It makes me wonder if they even run any kind of structural analyses at all on their phones, a simple Finite Element model would show this phone lighting up like a christmas tree at the weak spot in the case (clearly near the volume buttons), and could be reinforced fairly easily without sacrificing thickness of the overall device. Jony may be a good designer, but he is clearly a *****ty engineer.

Suffice it to say, I will not be putting this phone in my pockets ever.
 
AlphaDogg said:
I wonder why Jony Ive didn't design a couple ribs of aluminum running top to bottom through the phone. The 4 and 4S had separate structure parts and they never bent. Now the iPhone 6 and 6+ have no internal structure parts and they bend
Click to expand...

Metal bends. I think the big hoopla here is that the metal is *staying bent* instead of rebounding back to its former shape. Plastic would do that unless held in a particular position for a long period of time and/or exposed to heat.

Is this a design flaw? Sure. But it's a flaw by design in the sense that people have placed unreasonable demands on Apple for bigger and thinner. Could you just imagine how the iPhone 6 would be perceived if it came out and was drastically thicker than competing phones? Apple just can't win.

Now, I'm curious to see how Apple responds to this. Will this public revelation force them to create some magical solution to retain aluminum but give it some flex without the concern of staying bent? The challenge is now out there.
 
Jmacman78 said:
Gimme a break. you could do this with most phones on the market. Put pressure on it and it will bend/break no matter what it is.

Every time a new iPhone comes out everyone freaks out that it's a "bendgate".
Click to expand...

I can easily flex/bend almost any smartphone on the market like this guy If I did it the same exact way
 
Well, derrr: if you apply a lot of pressure (and he does seem to be using all his strength) onto a thin, aluminium object, it bends! Amazing.

BUT, with my iPhone 6+ on the way, this sort of thing has already taught me to be more careful with it than I am with my trusty 5; maybe even get a sturdy metal case to put it in. Which kinda defeats all the effort Jony and pals spent trying to make it so thin in the first place. Personally I'd prefer a little extra thickness in return for more strength and battery life.

I do note that the phone itself seems to be unphazed by being bent - it seems to be working at the end.

And I guess this answers the important question: "does it bend"!
 
Such build quality. Solid metal device. Nothing like those fragile plastic Samsungs that look like toys, right?
 
coolfactor said:
Metal bends. I think the big hoopla here is that the metal is *staying bent* instead of rebounding back to its former shape. Plastic would do that unless held in a particular position for a long period of time and/or exposed to heat.

Is this a design flaw? Sure. But it's a flaw by design in the sense that people have placed unreasonable demands on Apple for bigger and thinner. Could you just imagine how the iPhone 6 would be perceived if it came out and was drastically thicker than competing phones? Apple just can't win.

Now, I'm curious to see how Apple responds to this. Will this public revelation force them to create some magical solution to retain aluminum but give it some flex without the concern of staying bent? The challenge is now out there.
Click to expand...

If this becomes a recurring theme among owners, Apple will do something about it quietly. There will be a revision made to the metal case, reinforcing the weakest parts of the structure as long as it doesn't impact the flex cables and circuit cards inside. With that said, as many part leaks that occur, the community will quickly pick up on when and if Apple makes a change so they will be subject to PR problems regardless of whether or not they acknowledge an issue.
 
How else do you get people to buy upgrades to your phone? You make them weaker. Durr. You go :apple:. You need my money.
 
This wouldn't have happened if Apple used Liquidmetal. :p

But seriously...that guy was using significant force. I think any large smartphone would have bent or cracked under that kind of pressure.

I'm stIll torn over which model to get. This "test" isn't going to sway me one way or the other.
 
Demon Hunter said:
You're right, it is pretty incredible, but it seems consistent with the videos which highlight the "bending" strength of Gorilla Glass. I am also surprised the glass does not keep the structure more intact.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's kind of what I was getting at.

Also before, the actual shape of the 5 and 5s helped to prevented this from occurring (aside from the shortened height, of course). The squared edges add strength to the form but without them, the strength is determined solely by the materials, in this case the aluminum and glass, which is pretty durable now. The only inside supports are from the metal rivets either attaching components to the housing or the padding around volume keys.

Here's a photo from iFixit for those who want to see the points of weakness in the chassis:
MZkkrpauIeskXman.huge


Design oversight, maybe, but I don't think it's close to a antennagate.

You people and your large phones;)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back