Today I just realized my iPhone 6 is bent. Apple Care saying not their problem.

[cfedu]

So, Consumer Reports, an independent product testing company with decades of experience performing these kinds of tests on similar devices isn't qualified?

And you're complaining about other people being apologists??

Yes, because with the test there should have been a larger sample of phones and they should have tested each phone at different locations.


http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/09/consumer-reports-tests-iphone-6-bendgate/index.htm


"All the phones we tested showed themselves to be pretty tough. The iPhone 6 Plus, the more robust of the new iPhones in our testing, started to deform when we reached 90 pounds of force, and came apart with 110 pounds of force. With those numbers, it slightly outperformed the HTC One (which is largely regarded as a sturdy, solid phone), as well as the smaller iPhone 6, yet underperformed some other smart phones."

Their claim is based on the fact that the HTC One is regarded as sturdy or on another opinion



What is the minimum force that a phone should have in order not to bend? The consumer reports that apple uses 55lbs to test the phones. If that is apples standard we could see the next iPhone being almost another 50% weaker.

Surf monkey can you or any other person that knows? Tell me what the minimum force that a device should withstand?


30 lbs
35 lbs
40 lbs
45 lbs
50 lbs
55 lbs
60 lbs
65 lbs
70 lbs



If apple standard is 55lbs that leaves a 27% buffer for the 6

The Note 3 has around a 200% buffer

 

[Max(IT)]

I love my Iphone 6 but I am worrying about the bending issue. There are getting to be too many complaints. As the sales trend upwards into the high millions, there are going to be many more. It sure looks like these bending events are occurring with normal use, not abuse. I believe Apple has a real problem here. The design could be flawed with a weak spot near the volume cutouts. I don't think it would take much to convince a jury in a class action suit.

It would be interesting if such a suit was filed, during the discovery phase, if this bending tendency was shown during testing and bypassed, which is a real possibility.

I have no idea what Apple can do now if the design is flawed. A replacement phone will have the same design problem.

I keep my Iphone 6 in an Apple leather case. I think I will now go and look for a more rigid case to protect the phone and return the leather case to Apple. Just not worth risking bending the phone.

Still have to see a single iPhone 6 bent by normal use...

 

[iceperson]

A clip on side case is dangerous. I highly recommend a real leather case such as these https://www.moonshineleather.com/leathercellphoneholders.cfm
The one you get at Amazon are garbage.

LOL. I can just imagine someone carrying a 6 plus in something like that. Why not just use a fanny pack...

 

[Max(IT)]

It's crazy that even one was bent... Apple absolutely has to make the 6s a rousing success to break off this bad image.



Back pocket? Sure. Sitting on something like that is a horrible idea. However, there's no excuse that a handheld device cannot stay in shape if it's in the front pocket, where phones are held and carried by pretty much everyone.

Bad image? Reality check needed: iPhone 6 are selling like hot cakes.

Still have to see an iPhone, or any other phone, bent by the front pocket of someone.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Yes, because with the test there should have been a larger sample of phones and they should have tested each phone at different locations.

I'm at a loss to understand why your methodology is superior.

 

[iceperson]

Surf monkey can you or any other person that knows? Tell me what the minimum force that a device should withstand?

Phones are meant to be held in the hand at all times. Otherwise you should have your man servant carry it on a down pillow (face up of course).

 

[Max(IT)]

I would absolutely LOVE to see one of the "Attack Team" end up with a bent iPhone. I'm sorry, but some people have such a holier-than-thou attitude about this whole bending issue. I'm extremely careful with my phone throughout the day, as I'm sure many people on here are, but I'm not going to just assume someone doesn't take care of their phone as well as me like people on here do. I don't think it's fair to automatically assume every bent phone is strictly the user's fault. What if there really is something wrong with the aluminum used in the design and it loses its' structure when it heats up or something of that nature? Unless you watched the person bend their phone or sit on it, don't act like you know what they did or didn't do to cause their phone to bend.

On a side note, unless I'm missing something, all the bent phones I've seen have been Space Grey. Have there been any Silver or Gold bent phones?

I'm quite sure not all the bent iPhones are user's fault, there could be a percentage of defective units the owner didn't realize immediately.
But in most of the cases I believe that the owner just bent it inadvertently and realize afterward....

----------

I agree.

People don't seem to understand how soft aluminum really is and when you make it that thin it's even easier to bend.

And you really think you are tho only one smart guy knowing something about aluminum?
Reality check needed: Apple hired some of the most brilliant engineers in that field, has almost unlimited resources and very strict test benches.
All these geniuses on this forum coming up with the magic solution for Apple flaws make me laugh.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Still have to see a single iPhone 6 bent by normal use...

This is where the conflicts enter the picture. Something causes the damage. "Normal use" is not an explanation. Owners are either reluctant to say what it was or genuinely don't know. If asked they (and others) become defensive and the whole thing slides into a pit of insults and smears.

 

[Max(IT)]

You can guarantee that was bent by a customer "seeing how easily it bends"....I am surprised that only one in the store was bent, given how this saga is like an invitation to test it, on someone else's phone of course.

I literally saw two teenagers trying to bent an iPhone 6 in the local Apple store, and I immediately raised employees attention to them.
The local manager told me they have to change at least two phones a week because of those idiotic guys. That's where this hysteria went...

 

[drummr]

So...you bent it.

Putting it in you pocket didn't bend, and simple being in your pocket didn't bend it.

So you must have done something and since this isn't an iPhone 5, why you expect it to be used exactly the same?

It is a bigger phone (alot bigger if you have the plus).

I expect a phone to not bend by simply being in a pocket for a day. I fail to see how you can defend a stance in which a phone must apparenly be kept in a foam-lined pelican case at all times to prevent it from bending. It's not like I put it in my pocket and then went wrestling, I was sitting at a dinner - hardly what I would call extraordinary conditions. I don't expect the 6 to respond the same conditions as a 5 would, but whatever slight pressures there are when in a pocket shouldn't bend a phone. My two year old iPhone 5 was put through MUCH worse and It still looks brand new. Same with the 4 and 3G that came before it.

 

[Max(IT)]

What the opinions are in article have no bearing as they are not qualified to make an opinion IMO. If they were engineers I would put more weight in their opinions. They only part that is valid is the quantitative tests they performed.


I do agree that the sample size was lacking and for more accurate results more phones and types of phones would be required.

Of the 4 or So devices that they did test, the iPhone 6 was at the bottom with the HTC. These finding are consistent with the increase in reports of bending of the new iphones. Did apple go to far? I have no clue, what i do know is I would treat my iphone 6/6+ with more care than any other smartphone that I have ever had.

Yes users are bending the phones
yes IMO more phone are bending this generation
Yes this generation iPhone are at or near the bottom of a limited test sample
Yes the iPhone 5 is almost 100% less resistant to bending than the ipHone 6 (not 6 Plus)

These are the only fact I'm really able to work with. Question about reasonable use and abuse are something I don't think I'm qualified to comment on.

You can't be serious....
CR isn't a YouTube idiots who makes a test on the street. They actually are engineers qualified and operating in controlled labs.

When it comes to testing products, Consumer Reports stands alone. You might know us best for our Ratings, which enable you to compare the performance of many models at a glance. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the unique testing process that helps you get the most for your money.

How we test
Products are tested by engineers and technicians with years and sometimes decades of expertise in their field. They live with the products for several weeks, putting them through a battery of objective tests using scientific measurements, along with subjective tests that replicate the user experience. We test products against existing industry or government standards and develop our own benchmarks when we encounter new technologies or issues that require further testing. All models within a category go through exactly the same tests, side by side, so they're judged on a level playing field, and test results can be compared.


They are not qualified? They are qualified while all the idiotic YouTubers are not.

----------

Yes, because with the test there should have been a larger sample of phones and they should have tested each phone at different locations.


http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/09/consumer-reports-tests-iphone-6-bendgate/index.htm


"All the phones we tested showed themselves to be pretty tough. The iPhone 6 Plus, the more robust of the new iPhones in our testing, started to deform when we reached 90 pounds of force, and came apart with 110 pounds of force. With those numbers, it slightly outperformed the HTC One (which is largely regarded as a sturdy, solid phone), as well as the smaller iPhone 6, yet underperformed some other smart phones."

Their claim is based on the fact that the HTC One is regarded as sturdy or on another opinion



What is the minimum force that a phone should have in order not to bend? The consumer reports that apple uses 55lbs to test the phones. If that is apples standard we could see the next iPhone being almost another 50% weaker.

Surf monkey can you or any other person that knows? Tell me what the minimum force that a device should withstand?


30 lbs
35 lbs
40 lbs
45 lbs
50 lbs
55 lbs
60 lbs
65 lbs
70 lbs



If apple standard is 55lbs that leaves a 27% buffer for the 6

The Note 3 has around a 200% buffer

Apple never was in a competition for the sturdier phone.
They never advertised the iPhone as a rugged device.
It clearly is a delicate piece of technology. But it is designed to sustain a normal usage without any problem.

----------

This is where the conflicts enter the picture. Something causes the damage. "Normal use" is not an explanation. Owners are either reluctant to say what it was or genuinely don't know. If asked they (and others) become defensive and the whole thing slides into a pit of insults and smears.

I really think most of them just don't know how they bent it. People make mistakes all the times. It happens.
Just don't blame Apple for that.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I expect a phone to not bend by simply being in a pocket for a day. I fail to see how you can defend a stance in which a phone must apparenly be kept in a foam-lined pelican case at all times to prevent it from bending. It's not like I put it in my pocket and then went wrestling, I was sitting at a dinner - hardly what I would call extraordinary conditions. I don't expect the 6 to respond the same conditions as a 5 would, but whatever slight pressures there are when in a pocket shouldn't bend a phone. My two year old iPhone 5 was put through MUCH worse and It still looks brand new. Same with the 4 and 3G that came before it.

Here's the thing: we also own iPhone 6 and 6 Plusses. If they bend so easily we want to know HOW. Saying that it bent by "sitting at dinner" doesn't tell us how it got bent. Saying it bent in your pocket doesn't tell us how it got bent. Those things tell us when and where respectively, not how.

Now, granted, you may not know how it got bent, but that's kind of the point, right? If you don't know you can't really say whether what caused it was "normal" or not. And again: that's not an accusation. It's just a fact.

 

[Retired Cat]

I expect a phone to not bend by simply being in a pocket for a day. I fail to see how you can defend a stance in which a phone must apparenly be kept in a foam-lined pelican case at all times to prevent it from bending. It's not like I put it in my pocket and then went wrestling, I was sitting at a dinner - hardly what I would call extraordinary conditions. I don't expect the 6 to respond the same conditions as a 5 would, but whatever slight pressures there are when in a pocket shouldn't bend a phone. My two year old iPhone 5 was put through MUCH worse and It still looks brand new. Same with the 4 and 3G that came before it.

Their stance is completely indefensible.

To me it looks like some people are unable to accept that Apple or its contract manufacturers could have made mistakes. They are therefore blaming the customers.

 

[Max(IT)]

I expect a phone to not bend by simply being in a pocket for a day. I fail to see how you can defend a stance in which a phone must apparenly be kept in a foam-lined pelican case at all times to prevent it from bending. It's not like I put it in my pocket and then went wrestling, I was sitting at a dinner - hardly what I would call extraordinary conditions. I don't expect the 6 to respond the same conditions as a 5 would, but whatever slight pressures there are when in a pocket shouldn't bend a phone. My two year old iPhone 5 was put through MUCH worse and It still looks brand new. Same with the 4 and 3G that came before it.

And the pressure in a pocket can't bend it.

 

[KdParker]

I expect a phone to not bend by simply being in a pocket for a day. I fail to see how you can defend a stance in which a phone must apparenly be kept in a foam-lined pelican case at all times to prevent it from bending. It's not like I put it in my pocket and then went wrestling, I was sitting at a dinner - hardly what I would call extraordinary conditions. I don't expect the 6 to respond the same conditions as a 5 would, but whatever slight pressures there are when in a pocket shouldn't bend a phone. My two year old iPhone 5 was put through MUCH worse and It still looks brand new. Same with the 4 and 3G that came before it.

You are saying that the act of being in your pocket bent it?

That is very hard to believe.

More believable is that you are unaware of what you hit with your phone.
It must suck having a bent phone but to claim it just magically morphed in your pocket is a bit of a stretch.

btw...did you post any pics?

 

[iceperson]

No I never said the iPhone 5 would be broken, but it sure as hell is uncomfortable to sit with it in a shallow pocket.The 5 is shorter and thicker and the laws of physics says it can take more pressure. A longer thinner piece of wood is easier to break than a shorter thicker one. Again common sense! Apple has proven that it takes 75lbs of pressure to bend the iPhone. Obviously the op has exceeded that pressure some how.

Common sense says if you design and sell phones you should design and sell phones that can be used and carried like all the other cell phones made for the last 18 or so years. If the iPhone 6 isn't designed to be carried in a pocket (like most every other cell phone out there is including every previous version of the iPhone), then it should carry a disclaimer.

 

[Cool Pup]

Bad image? Reality check needed: iPhone 6 are selling like hot cakes.

Still have to see an iPhone, or any other phone, bent by the front pocket of someone.

Sure, I love my iPhone 6, but at the same time I'll really dissociate myself of that love once they fix the clear issues in the chassis of the phone next time around, and I think people will do the exact same. Had the iPhone not been 4.7 inches, I think this would be a disastrous phone launch all around, because it's clearly the size increase that motivated most buys.

It's selling great no doubt, but it doesn't mean it's without an issue.

And really? You haven't seen front pocket bends? A bunch of people have had their phone bend in the front pocket. Including a guy who got severe burns from it.

http://www.cnet.com/news/guy-says-his-iphone-6-bent-and-caught-on-fire/

Yes, the impact of the hit also influenced the result, but in any case, I haven't heard anything this bad from a bent phone before.

Common sense says if you design and sell phones you should design and sell phones that can be used and carried like all the other cell phones made for the last 18 or so years. If the iPhone 6 isn't designed to be carried in a pocket (like most every other cell phone out there is including every previous version of the iPhone), then it should carry a disclaimer.

It's pretty strange that people are not wanting to admit that there is a flaw with the phone. Why would people say, just now, that phones aren't to be carried in pockets? Bigger Android phones had no issues with being put in pockets.

I love Apple as much as the biggest fans here, but I'd be foolish to not admit that this is a prevalent problem that can come up and somehow they either missed this or it became too late to fix it by the time they were going to launch it.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Common sense says if you design and sell phones you should design and sell phones that can be used and carried like all the other cell phones made for the last 18 or so years. If the iPhone 6 isn't designed to be carried in a pocket (like most every other cell phone out there is including every previous version of the iPhone), then it should carry a disclaimer.

It appears to me that Apple did exactly that. With 40 million iPhone 6 series phones in circulation you'd be very hard pressed to make a case that the phone doesn't meet the criteria you outlined. If it didn't... where are the millions upon millions of damaged phones?

 

[cfedu]

You can't be serious....
CR isn't a YouTube idiots who makes a test on the street. They actually are engineers qualified and operating in controlled labs.

When it comes to testing products, Consumer Reports stands alone. You might know us best for our Ratings, which enable you to compare the performance of many models at a glance. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the unique testing process that helps you get the most for your money.

How we test
Products are tested by engineers and technicians with years and sometimes decades of expertise in their field. They live with the products for several weeks, putting them through a battery of objective tests using scientific measurements, along with subjective tests that replicate the user experience. We test products against existing industry or government standards and develop our own benchmarks when we encounter new technologies or issues that require further testing. All models within a category go through exactly the same tests, side by side, so they're judged on a level playing field, and test results can be compared.


They are not qualified? They are qualified while all the idiotic YouTubers are not.

----------



Apple never was in a competition for the sturdier phone.
They never advertised the iPhone as a rugged device.
It clearly is a delicate piece of technology. But it is designed to sustain a normal usage without any problem.

----------



I really think most of them just don't know how they bent it. People make mistakes all the times. It happens.
Just don't blame Apple for that.

Engineers could have performed the test, but I'm not sure it was on who wrote the report. They state the following "With those numbers, it slightly outperformed the HTC One which is largely regarded as a sturdy, solid phone" I would consider that an opinion.

Where is the HTC one considered sturdy, who tested and made that previous conclusion?


I agree Apples goal is not to make a rugged device, but when their new device is almost half the strength of the previous iPhone. One might not be able to use their new iPhone like their previous one which was not marketed as rugged either. This is the reason why this is a problem for some

Apple made a trade off that some are not happy with some are.

Do you agree that apple sacrifice some structural integrity for aesthetics ?

 

[impulse462]

All the apple apologists in this thread are pathetic. Clearly the original poster bent his phone just to make this thread and to piss on this forum off.

 

[Cool Pup]

It appears to me that Apple did exactly that. With 40 million iPhone 6 series phones in circulation you'd be very hard pressed to make a case that the phone doesn't meet the criteria you outlined. If it didn't... where are the millions upon millions of damaged phones?

There's not millions of phones damaged by this and clearly not all people are affected by it.

However, it's ignorant to just brush off this as the fault of the customer when I've read many people who take great care of their phones that had it bend. The phone has just barely been out for a full month now, so we'll see how the rest of this plays out, but as it stands, it's clearly not something completely irrelevant.

I even support the phone and think it won't bend easily, but, again, people have had their phone bend in natural use cases and that's of course a concern for some people.

 

[drummr]

You are saying that the act of being in your pocket bent it?

That is very hard to believe.

More believable is that you are unaware of what you hit with your phone.
It must suck having a bent phone but to claim it just magically morphed in your pocket is a bit of a stretch.

btw...did you post any pics?

You make it sound like someone falcon punched my leg at dinner or something. I didn't hit it on anything. Actually it is bent with the screen being concave, and I keep the screen facing my leg when it's in my pocket. It would have bent the opposite direction had something hit it.

Pic is posted here:
oneofthenine.com/one-of-the-nine/180-of-the-9/

 

[teknikal90]

Here's the thing: we also own iPhone 6 and 6 Plusses. If they bend so easily we want to know HOW. Saying that it bent by "sitting at dinner" doesn't tell us how it got bent. Saying it bent in your pocket doesn't tell us how it got bent. Those things tell us when and where respectively, not how.

Now, granted, you may not know how it got bent, but that's kind of the point, right? If you don't know you can't really say whether what caused it was "normal" or not. And again: that's not an accusation. It's just a fact.

bro... here you go again...

if one goes about his normal day to day business, so much so that no 1 specific event can be recalled that can possibly be attributed as the cause of the bend, it's likely that the user had not done anything beyond 'normal, ordinary use'

as such, the iphone being bent had arisen out of normal ordinary use. that's the argument here.

sure, you can say, well, maybe a user should keep a log on what they're doing to make sure they're not doing something that may end up bending their phone in their 'ordinary use'.. well that's unacceptable. These phones are meant to cater to the general population, not to a niche market of users who keep logs of their phone use or baby their phones. I'm not talking about intentionally bending their phones for youtube here. I'm talking about going about your day to day life not worrying about bending your phone. a $1000 iphone should survive that. I think that's a reasonable expectation.

it's unreasonable for apple, or yourself, to expect anything other than that from the ordinary consumer. if it has gotten to that point, I argue apple is not user testing their products enough, and their phones are not well designed.

 

[Surf Monkey]

There's not millions of phones damaged by this and clearly not all people are affected by it.

However, it's ignorant to just brush off this as the fault of the customer when I've read many people who take great care of their phones that had it bend. The phone has just barely been out for a full month now, so we'll see how the rest of this plays out, but as it stands, it's clearly not something completely irrelevant.

Trying to determine how a phone got damaged is NOT assigning blame. People need to stop casting things in these ridiculous absolute terms.

----------

bro... here you go again...

if one goes about his normal day to day business, so much so that no 1 specific event can be recalled that can possibly be attributed as the cause of the bend, it's likely that the user had not done anything beyond 'normal, ordinary use'

as such, the iphone being bent had arisen out of normal ordinary use. that's the argument here.

sure, you can say, well, maybe a user should keep a log on what they're doing to make sure they're not doing something that may end up bending their phone in their 'ordinary use'.. well that's unacceptable. These phones are meant to cater to the general population, not to a niche market of users who keep logs of their phone use or baby their phones. I'm not talking about intentionally bending their phones for youtube here. I'm talking about going about your day to day life not worrying about bending your phone. a $1000 iphone should survive that. I think that's a reasonable expectation.

it's unreasonable for apple, or yourself, to expect anything other than that from the ordinary consumer. if it has gotten to that point, I argue apple is not user testing their products enough, and their phones are not well designed.

Actually, it's you who isn't understanding here. You're talking about subjective experience. I'm talking about objective fact. It is an objective fact that some event causes these phones to bend. Given the amount of force necessary it is highly unlikely that a bend will happen incrementally, but even if that's happening it's still a series of specific, objective events that are causing it. That's the relivent data that you and others refuse to address and insist on characterizing as accusation when questioned about. In my opinion it's disingenuous and rude to suggest that simply trying to determine what's happening to these phones is apologetics or unreasonable.

 

[cfedu]

I'm at a loss to understand why your methodology is superior.

Why? because they practice bad science!

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/re-consumer-reports-iphone-bending-pencils/

Their pencil demonstration was bas science and not testing phones at their weakest part is bad science as well. The only part of their video that may be accurate are the bend forces in the middle of the devices.