iPhone SE Found Less Durable Than 6 Series in Bend, Drop, and Water Tests

[white4s]

The SE is a joke

so an iphone 6s minus 2 or 3 features, none of which are that important, put inside arguably apple's best designed iphone which i happen to get completely for free, is a joke huh. oh ok

 

[jcmeyer5]

I still don't get the bending concerns with the 6. Granted, I carry mine in a front pocket, but my boss has his in his back pocket all the time. I check it every so often. No bend.

 

[lkalliance]

Kinda funny since no one was complaining about the 5/5s bending

To be fair, they weren't complaining about the 6S, either. It was the 6 that had Bendgate. That would be a curious comparision: the SE to the 6, rather than to the 6S. But I agree that the real news would be how the SE compares to the 5S (per the article, they're the same, unsurprisingly).

 

[jonnysods]

idk, stuff bends and stuff breaks. i love scratches, bends,nicks, on my hardware (no sarcasm), gives it character. I understand some people want all of their stuff to be flawless, which is cool too. But i've never cared.

Kind of makes it look like Boba Fett or something eh? Like there is a bit of a history with your device.

 

[asleep]

Put the 5S in Magpul Field case in my back jeans pocket every day for a year and sat on it when I got into my car with no bending whatsoever. Still have it.

iPhone 6 bent on day 3.

SE, no bend so far.

Case protects very well in drops, and I try not to shower with my iPhone.

 

[Mac 128]

True enough, but the SE is really a sign of Apple's financial CEO deciding that its about money, not innovation. You want to know the new Apple then ask "why no new case?" Why did they not take the time to make the case stronger, more waterproof, and without the slot? All of which are technology they learned with newer phones. The answer is, 4 inch phone users were not worth it.

That's a specious conclusion to reach, and altogether wrong.

I agree that the 5s is the best and I have a 5s that I use daily. I just have to ask why the SE is not more waterproof, why it still has a SIM slot, or why they did not innovate at all in the case structural design while keeping the outside the same.

Why should Apple innovate a new case 6 months before they are going to release a new flagship 7 design? If they did, do you really think Apple could afford to sell it for $250-350 less than the flagship phones?

All of those things take resources, and for every new thing they add, or improve, they have to invest R&D, and increase cost. The improvements will come after the 7 arrives, and Apple will charge a premium for that handset.

More penny pinching from Apple. (It's the 5c all over again, seriously.)

All things being fair, the entry level iPhone in September should have been a 6, with 6s and 7 as the other options.
Everyone laughed when Apple went for the plastic entry level phone instead of the metal 5. But 2 years later, nothing but praise for 'another 5' with relatively similar specs.

The 6 is barely bigger than the 5, in the hand, with the 'added thinness', and in 2016, the 5 body is so outdated it's pure penny pinching to foist that on the poorest of iPhone aspirationals. I see a lot of normals still carrying a 5, though. They ain't broke, so who needs to replace them? I spoke with my cousin and the faster speeds or better camera of the SE held no attraction. His 5 is working fine for him.

All that said, the 5c was a cooler phone. Plenty of 5 owners wanted to trade 'up' to it because the colours were cool and the plastic case was more practical. If it HAD to go that road, Apple should have at least gone the 5c case with updated specs.

Sure the echo chamber would have laughed at the plastic case, but in practice it would have been a better deal for customers, even corporate buyers (the majority of entry level phone buyers, I'm sure), who could have saved buying a case.

Too bad Apple didn't consult with your cousin first.

 

[lkalliance]

More penny pinching from Apple. (It's the 5c all over again, seriously.)

All things being fair, the entry level iPhone in September should have been a 6, with 6s and 7 as the other options.
Everyone laughed when Apple went for the plastic entry level phone instead of the metal 5. But 2 years later, nothing but praise for 'another 5' with relatively similar specs.

The 6 is barely bigger than the 5, in the hand, with the 'added thinness', and in 2016, the 5 body is so outdated it's pure penny pinching to foist that on the poorest of iPhone aspirationals. I see a lot of normals still carrying a 5, though. They ain't broke, so who needs to replace them? I spoke with my cousin and the faster speeds or better camera of the SE held no attraction. His 5 is working fine for him.

All that said, the 5c was a cooler phone. Plenty of 5 owners wanted to trade 'up' to it because the colours were cool and the plastic case was more practical. If it HAD to go that road, Apple should have at least gone the 5c case with updated specs.

Sure the echo chamber would have laughed at the plastic case, but in practice it would have been a better deal for customers, even corporate buyers (the majority of entry level phone buyers, I'm sure), who could have saved buying a case.

I agree with some of this. I love my 5c. Best iPhone design ever. Choosing the 5c on release, as I did, represented a trade-off of technology (Touch ID, 64-bit chip, better camera) for design. Not just "looks" design (though I think it does look better), but "fit-in-the-hand" design. It's the most comfortable iPhone to hold. And the plastic makes it easier to grip, though that just might be a function of how dry your skin is. I know that in dry winters, I've had a couple of slip-outs with the aluminum versions.

The time has come, though, that I would like to get the more recent technology, to the point where the difference between my current 5c and the SE is large enough to outweigh the in-hand experience.

I went to the Apple Store this weekend to refresh my memory of the experience of holding the SE, and also the 6S. The shortcomings remained as I remembered them: too square, too light. I happened to have a salesperson that was in agreement: it's not that the 5/5S/SE was too light but not DENSE enough. The solid density of the 4/4S gave me the feeling of holding something solid, packed with technology. It's a satisfying feeling, a reassuring feeling. The 5c, being a smidge heavier, was more pleasing from that standpoint too.

My lower enthusiasm for the SE's styling (lower than the 5c, but better than the 6/S) will probably warrant a case of some sort. I don't like using cases, because they generally make the low-density problem WORSE. I really wish Apple had stuck with the 5c enclosure, or something close. Though I prefer the 4" size, I would take a 4.7" phone with a 5c-style enclosure over the SE. Despite it all I'm still purchasing the SE, but it's my least enthusiastic iPhone purchase thus far.

 

[bchreng]

"When submerged under five feet of water, the iPhone SE permanently shut off after less than one minute. "In comparison, the iPhone 6s survived a full 30 minutes and only lost audio," said SquareTrade. "The iPhone 6s Plus started malfunctioning at 10 minutes and eventually died."

Couldn't help but think of this (for those of us who appreciate pop culture and mainstream media)

 

[nt5672]

That's a specious conclusion to reach, and altogether wrong.
Why should Apple innovate a new case 6 months before they are going to release a new flagship 7 design? If they did, do you really think Apple could afford to sell it for $250-350 less than the flagship phones?

All of those things take resources, and for every new thing they add, or improve, they have to invest R&D, and increase cost. The improvements will come after the 7 arrives, and Apple will charge a premium for that handset.

Too bad Apple didn't consult with your cousin first.

Like I said, not worth the cost. You said I was wrong, then went and immediately proved my point. Thank you.

 

[Tech198]

Look at that phone take a bending..

I would like to try that tumble....... myself..

Now don't do this at home

 

[Retired Cat]

The article title is absurd.

The 6s shell is made from different and much stronger aluminum alloy than the 6. To say that the SE is weaker than 6-series as a whole is incorrect.

 

[You are the One]

The article title is absurd.

Agreed, with those tests they could have included "shot by a .45 at 15 meters distance" or "resistance to a Hellfire missile impact at 50 meters". I'm sure it will be fine for normal everyday use.

 

[lordofthereef]

While it may bend easier in terms of needing less force I have to wonder if the fact that it's a physically smaller device would cause a lesser tendency to bend. My feeling is the device is small enough that this won't be an issue for virtually anyone.

 

[kdarling]

because that bend test is a real world situation. get real

Tech magazines should come up with a set of automated test dummy buttocks, to see how each phone stands up to the all-too-common way that people stick a phone in their back pants pocket and sit on it

 

[white4s]

Tech magazines should come up with a set of automated test dummy buttocks, to see how each phone stands up to the all-too-common way that people stick a phone in their back pants pocket and sit on it

yes something a lot more realistic

 

[mildocjr]

I feel as though everyone thinks Apple did some smoke and mirror stuff on them when they released the iPhone SE, they didn't, they just took their existing iPhone 5S, rebranded it, and threw in some hardware upgrades, the chassis is still the same. Not sure why everyone seems so surprised that it is "less" than the iPhone 6S. They basically said that it was a remade iPhone 5S on stage.

 

[shyam09]

Bendgate was, is, and forever will be one of the stupidest things that became a trend

 

[SeaFox]

The 6S has 7000 series aluminium. Not really a fair comparison. I bet its still better then the 6

Yeah. Headline correction please, MacRumors. The testing is verses the 6S, not the iPhone 6, which is infamous for its bendability.

 

[d-b]

double post

 

[Tmelon]

I don't know why they would bother doing another test. I'm assuming the results were identical to the 5S tests from 2 years ago.

 

[d-b]

Please use the metric system.

 

[Cymbol]

As far as I am concern these tests are worthless. Chances of any of those situations happening to that extreme are unlikely. Is like broccoli is carcinogenic, yeah if you eat 7,000 Lbs. a day.

Ahh , Broccoli has the opposite effect last time i checked , carcinogenic i don't think so

 

[Mac 128]

Like I said, not worth the cost. You said I was wrong, then went and immediately proved my point. Thank you.

You are wrong.

You said: "4 inch phone users were not worth it.". Nothing could be further from your specious reasoning, which stems from your mistaken impression that this phone was designed solely for those who prefer a 4" phone, and utterly discounting the fact that this was intended primarily as a budget entry level phone, to attract more customers to Apple and give them a better first time experience.

But whatever. You've got your twisted agenda, so no point in debating with you. Good luck with your crusade against the greedy corporation out to screw the customer you think Apple has become.

 

[nt5672]

You are wrong.

You said: "4 inch phone users were not worth it.". Nothing could be further from your specious reasoning, which stems from your mistaken impression that this phone was designed solely for those who prefer a 4" phone, and utterly discounting the fact that this was intended primarily as a budget entry level phone, to attract more customers to Apple and give them a better first time experience.

But whatever. You've got your twisted agenda, so no point in debating with you. Good luck with your crusade against the greedy corporation out to screw the customer you think Apple has become.

And there you go proving my comment again. If Apple wants a cheap phone, then fine. Why put the best chips in a 3 year old housing that is not the latest technology with regard to waterproofing and strength. Anytime you make something cheap and don't give people a choice it is because you believe they only deserve cheap. They are not worth the additional cost of R&D. And if they wanted cheap they would have a plastic case, etc. No instead they put minimal effort into seeing if they could fool a bunch of customers. Now I am not saying it is a bad phone, just disappointed at the effort. We will probably upgrade a 4s to the SE because it is the size class we like. What we hate is being treated like a second class citizen because we want a phone sized phone.

Anyway, if I wanted a cheap phone I would get an Android. Apple did not make the best entry level phone based on cost and they did not make the best 4 inch phone for people that wanted the latest technology. Why? Because Apple is not about being the best any more. They have not figured out that Apple iPhones are becoming a commodity and it is not about the splash any more. It should be about performance and functionality. Apple are still spending tremendous resources on the next iPhone splash, when they should just be hunkering down and making the best iPhones for the money in each size class.

My twisted agenda is only because Apple has left me as customer. I supported Apple when no one else would. Because they made great products, most of my extended family have moved to Apple, based on my recommendation. But Apple products are no longer the same quality as in the past. My twisted agenda is to make sure they get my feedback in any way possible. Probably won't help, but it is all I can do.