“Whatever problems a handful of users have had with their new iPhones bending, Apple insists that its quality assurance standards are rigorous, and that any problems people have had are extremely rare events,” CNBC reports.
“Apple went further this afternoon, inviting a CNBC reporter into its testing lab to see the machines it uses to test its products,” CNBC reports. “The iPhone 6 is ‘the most tested product we have ever done,’ said Dan Riccio, head of engineering. The phone was tested 15,000 times before being released, he said.”
CNBC reports, “The company also reiterated that only 9 people have complained about the phone bending.”
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Direct link to video here.
“I saw four tests performed in Apple’s labs, just a few blocks away from the main building of its sprawling Cupertino campus, which I’ve outlined below,” Lauren Goode reports for Re/code. “These are just a few steps the company says it takes; the short tour didn’t include tests around display strength, water-resistance or other wear and tear benchmarks.”
“First was the ‘sit test.’ Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, says this test is the one that is most relevant for customers with concerns about the phones bending in pockets. There are three parts to the sit test. The first part simulates a typical user sitting down on a hard surface, the second simulates someone sinking into something softer like a couch, and finally there’s what Riccio calls a ‘worst-case’ tests, where someone would have a phone in their pocket and sit down on a hard surface at an angle,” Goode reports. “Riccio says the company cycles through these, ‘thousands of times.'”
Read more about the tests and see photos of the test in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Okay, who took over Apple PR and started to actually do, you know, effective public relations?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Now if they will only do the same for their operating systems
God one 🙂
Prevention is better than cure.
Good fast damage control on both fronts.
It’s a shame that Apple is forced to show the labs. Shame for that idiot that uploaded that BS video that has zero truth to it.
Yup, exactly. Kudos to Tim and the executive management team for doing this to quickly squelch the echo chamber, but it is really only benefiting the competition whom you absolutely know are scrutinizing everything. Hopefully a major upgrade was already planned for shortly after the upcoming announcements so this intelligence gathering is nearly moot.
Yeah, but actually it was a truthful video:
If you apply enough pressure (how much) at a focus point off center (or on) you will bend the unit under pressure. This is true of all physical objects. It’s amazing that the so called Technology Press picks up on this and propagates it like they do. It says so much about about the total sham these websites are, nothing they publish can be taken for fact. The guy in the video should be sued for impersonating an intelligent person.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the tech press reporting the lies it was many mainstream television and online publications. I guess it was also reported on local news. Did they retract this evening or say they were blundering idiots for not researching the validity of the claims? The answer is not to my knowledge. The fact that they showed a video clip from some random guy on YouTube and reported that as fact without researching the validity of the claims is completely unethical, unprofessional and dangerous. The producers of these programs and websites should be fired or voluntarily quit because of their incompetence.
This is true. The BBC reported on this last night and the anchor woman stated the phones bend “if placed in a pocket or held too tightly”. Yes, that’s right, she said “HELD TOO TIGHTLY”.
Now where was their fact checker that day? In the john dumping their tiny brain in the bowl I suspect.
Apple let me in
I’m going to assume they use machinery to do the ‘sit’ test.. Aluminum is a fairly malleable metal and it becomes more so with heat which it also easily absorbs and dissipates. I wonder if they also simulate the amount of body heat (plus heat generated by the phone that does not dissipate while in a pocket) that the phone would be subject to while being carried in a pocket.
I’m pretty sure the iPhone itself can generate more heat than a human body can. I’m also pretty sure Apple is aware of the affects of heat on metal.
All I’m saying is if the ‘sit’ test does not take into account retained heat and added body heat while performing the test, the results will not reflect real-world conditions. As I noted above it is a good heat conductor and will warm up quite easily, especially since there is nowhere for the heat to dissipate to while pocketed. The temperature of the testing area may also change the results good or bad.
I think your physics is vastly oversimplified.
The fellows who run the reliability labs are incredibly crafty folks. Think Dick van Dyke in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” running into the house and grabbing the chimney flue. They construct all manner of testing machines and analyze how they compare with real world usage. If they weren’t in there testing upcoming products all the time it’d be awesome to allow more visitors to visit.
My businesses employ many materials science engineers, so does Apple. I assure you the full testing parameters will include a complete environmental assessment. In addition, labs will have a specification for for environmental control. I see a calibrated surface plate as the foundation for one of the tests, this is your first indication they are serious about their lab and measuring environment.
I just now completed the “Sit On My Face” test, and the Plus passed, but it left a bruise under my left eye.
“Okay, who took over Apple PR and started to actually do, you know, effective public relations?”
What a concept!
I was at an Apple store today and noticed that some plus units looked like they had been bent slightly near the volume buttons. I assumed some bozos where in the store and had done their own bend tests. Now I just read that the guy who posted d the video that started this whole thing mentioned that the phone he tested was slightly bent already. Maybe there’s a batch that was baddly manufactured to begin with.
He actually said that it was already bent before he bent it further? What a tool. Does this Einstein know how many billions of dollars he helped to lose the last two days all because of his little prank? There’s a lot of people that lost a lot of money because of that worm and other trolls. What an idiot.
A lot of people lost a ton of money, but the video guy already made >$100,000 on the video on “impressions” alone (plus whatever cheque Samsung and their marketing crooks sent him)
Ah from the horse’s mouth: “The company also reiterated that only 9 people have complained about the phone bending.”
The person saying this isn’t a jouranalist so I’ll believe him. In doing so, one can certainly see “bendgate” under a new light. The way that this has been picked up and hyped by the media is akin to dropping the soap and bending over to pick it up.
That’s how low the modern day jouranalists have stooped. Maybe they should be heading overseas since they have severed any thread of respect they may have had.
Not that I care, but I’d look at the part of the country this guy is from, his social network and what social marketing agencies can be found in a 10 miles radius of his home. But that’s just me.
Sorry, but trust PR people even less than most journalist.
The more Apple repeats the phrase “9 people,” the more blood they will smell.
In general I agree however one problem for me is that I have never seen an instance where Apple over embellishes, deceives or lies about any of their products. In fact I find their PR dry and boring, just the facts and no more.
I think we should start calling Android users the Digital Phanboi Terrorists or something like that. Anyone else have better names? Think about it, they despise and hate Apple and its users and jealous what we stand for and our support for Apple products. The torture, burn and bash and make up stuff and cause trouble and whine about us our presence and happiness of living and using our Apple products!…..lol
When all you have to offer as an alternative is crap, you have to slam the competition in any way you can to compete.
MDN, I told you earlier today that Tim Cook is going to take this issue and crush it into a new positive for Apple. Maybe now we know who was behind Steve taking reporters into the antenna testing chamber.
I remember thinking that at the time. It was impressive, a “behind the scenes”, “insider” scoop that managed to quell the disquieting murmurs in the clueless reporting corps. Disclose and Dispose, that’s what Tim Cook advised Steve Jobs.
To bad they didn’t do the two thumb test.
(pushing as hard as they could from underneath) 😉
Then there’s the truck driving over the phone test,
the pro wrestling test,
the Sasquatch test, (otherwise known as the Steve Ballmer test)
the UFO crashing into the phone test . . .
Then there’s the Does It Blend test.
If you TRY to break something, it will break.
The real problem is when 1 person makes a big deal out of there own stupidity on the internet and the press gets a hold of it and then turns it into this really big deal over nothing except like I said the users stupidity. Then they have a hiccup with an update and make another big deal out of nothing. The update has already been fixed and works just fine. 9 total phones bent buy stupidity and they are all getting free replacements. So enough already. I think Apple does great work and is always looking out for the customer even when things don’t quite go as smoothly as planned.
“Stupidity on the Internet” — what a concept — I can scarcely contain myself laughing.
Time for Samsung to open up its facilities:
Fake, unfortunately. There is a glitch in the editing just after he shows the working phone.
Doesn’t mater if it is still an electronically working phone or not. That IS a Samsung phone bending and breaking.
Simple fix. Instead of running the unfunny Fallon/Timberlake commercial, Apple needs to run a commercial that compares the rigidity of the iPhone 6 to the top phones from Samsung, LG, HTC, etc.
Blanket the airwaves and let people know that the iPhone 6 is more ridged than the previous model and state what percentage wronger it is than the competition.
Kill this FUD with facts and video proof.
I went to bend phablets today in Shenzhen, lot of them. It turns out all the plastic ones bend like crazy. Huawei (which have metal in them) hardly bent, Samsung (even mostly plastic) bends only little. The Coolpads were interesting, the sales guy said that’s the way they are built, to bend, and added:” The trick is how much continiuous bending these phones can take, not that much it turns out, and lot of them will break the glass later”. The iPhone 6 Plus: “Not bad, our boss has one, he thinks you can’t break it in normal use even you have it in your pocket all the time, but then, it wont fit in typical Chinese pocket so here it doesn’t have any problem. It’s a typical purse phone.”
This thing is every bit as stupid as the idiocy with the antenna, right down to showing the stupid ass reporters a lab.