Selling over 10 million iPhones in one weekend means that even if 1% of new owners have an issue, that's 100,000 people complaining loudly. Because Apple only releases one new phone a year, they are under more scrutiny than anyone else.
But anyone who even considers the idea that this is Apple's darkest hour has no clue of Apple's history. Apple has become the company that all of the tech snobs love to hate, but yet they continue to be more successful and profitable than anyone else. Every year, the same things happens: Apple's stock jumps up right before a new product announcement/launch, and then it drops immediately after launch. And then some kind of alarmist catastrophe hits (like Antennagate, or Bentgate, and a plethora of other issues). Some of them are legitimate, some blown way out of proportion. Either way, the biggest effect it has it getting media sites a ton of hits! Whether it's an article in support of Apple, or an article slamming them, more people click on Apple news stories than anything else in technology.
Now then, let's consider the current issues we have with the iPhone 6 launch. By almost all accounts, the new phones are Apple's best yet with a great hardware design, a stellar camera, and a ton of new features (mainly API improvements) in iOS 8. So what about "bent gate"? Let's consider what we know so far:
- It can be demonstrated that the iPhone 6 Plus (and also the iPhone 6, 5S, and a few Android phones to a lesser degree) can be permanently bent.
- Apple has public acknowledged that only 9 people have contacted Apple about this issue thus far, so it does not seem to be widespread. More than likely, it's a very small minority who have experienced the issue. And except when done on purpose (if that can be determined), Apple is sure to fix or replace phones that experience the issue in normal day-to-day usage.
- It is unclear how much force needs to be applied to get the phone to bend, or whether one should expect it to happen in normal day to day use. Because the iPhone 6 Plus is much larger, it is certainly a good idea to exercise a bit more caution when carrying the phone. iPads and other electronics made of metal are also bendable, but a phone is something you carry with you every day. Carrying a large, thin, metal phone in tight pants is probably not a good idea. Likewise, sitting down while your phone is in your back pocket is definitely not a good idea. Carrying your phone is somewhat loose pockets should not be a problem. I've been carrying my 6 Plus in my front jeans pocket since last Friday and I've not had any issues. But my jeans are not tight and I have plenty of room in my pocket for the phone. Common sense is required, along with an understanding that the phone can bend under certain circumstances.
- The release of iOS 8.0.1 was definitely a bad move by Apple. While it's great that they were able to release an update so quickly after launch, it's quite clear now that it did not undergo enough testing. And while other companies have had these issues many times, Apple is again under intense scrutiny already. And it was bad timing. It's also always a good idea to wait a day or two after an OS update (this is true for iOS, Android, and on desktop). It doesn't excuse Apple's botched updated, but it is again a reasonable precaution.
And finally, only time will tell if all of this blows over, or if it truly hurts Apple. I don't think anyone expects it to take a hit on Apple's iPhone sales. With constrained supply, they are likely to sell every iPhone that they can make for the next couple of months at least. However, it does tarnish their image a bit. And it gives tech snobs more ammunition to fire at Apple. That's okay. We Apple fans have long been snobbish at times, so let's just go ahead and suck it up and take it. At the end of the day, it's foibles like this that make companies do better!
