“Two days ago, the Internet erupted with photos of bent iPhone 6s, and a very-viral video of a guy creasing an iPhone 6 Plus with his bare hands. It seemed like a serious concern, yet everything about the uproar was highly unscientific. We don’t like unscientific, so we promised then that we would use our lab equipment to find out just how delicate the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus really are,” Consumer Reports reports. “We also promised to run the same tests on comparable smart phones. We’ve done that now, and our tests show that both iPhones seem tougher than the Internet fracas implies.”
MacDailyNews Take: Even grandma’s Consumer Reports sees this for what it is: FUD.
“To stress test these phones, we used what’s called a ‘three-point flexural test,’ in which the phone is supported at two points on either end, then force is applied at a third point on the top — you can see the testing for yourself in our video,” CR reports. “We applied and measured the force using a high-precision Instron compression test machine. Along with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, we tested the LG G3, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and HTC One (M8), and for those wondering about their old iPhones, we tested the iPhone 5 as well. We used one sample of each phone.”
“We started light, applying 10 pounds of force for 30 seconds, then releasing the force. Then we increased the force in 10-pound increments, noted when the phones first started to deform (that’s what our engineers call it) and stopped the test for each phone when we saw the screen come loose from the case,” CR reports. “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… Bear in mind that it took significant force to do this kind of damage to all these phones. While nothing is (evidentally) indestructible, we expect that any of these phones should stand up to typical use.”
[protected-iframe id=”be615153265bd9b7e8bedda482975c63-17146794-18685410″ info=”http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js” style=”display:none”]
Read more and video in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The End.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Tamir Cassel” and “Darkness” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Analysts: Ignore irrational ‘bendgate’ noise and buy Apple stock – September 26, 2014
Inside the facility where Apple tortures the iPhone 6 – September 26, 2014
Apple opens testing facility to reporters, details exhaustive iPhone 6 Plus durability tests – September 25, 2014
Apple’s gauntlet of five durability tests that iPhone 6 Plus passed with flying colors – September 25, 2014
Apple: Only nine customers have complained about bent iPhone 6 Plus units – September 25, 2014
If ‘bending’ is all Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus rivals have left, they’re roadkill – September 24, 2014
The people who bent their phones, I’m reminded of the joke of the man who goes to the doctor and lifts his arm and says, “Doctor, it hurts when I go like this.” The Doctor says, “Don’t go like that.”
No MDN and others. This is not the end. You guys completely ignore that the Note scored way higher on the test. 150 pounds vs 90 pounds for the iPhone Plus. Jesus you guys are delusional.
And the stress point was not directly on the weakest part of the iPhone by the volume buttons.
Whatever.
Why of course the Note scored higher; wasn’t it designed as a door stop anyway?
can’t think of anything to comment so I’m just going to post a pancake recipe.
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups White Wings self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup caster sugar
25g butter, melted
Whisk milk, egg and vanilla together in a jug. Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in centre. Add milk mixture. Whisk until just combined.
mmmmmm … pancakes
You should try buckwheat. Absolutely awesome!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: ‘Slight’ is a flaming asshole.
What’s caster sugar?
So?
I think 90 lbs is not too shabby. Since there have been how many millions sold in a week and only 9 reported bends I would say Apple has engineered the iPhone for better than normal human use.
Have to admit, you win in spec, so why don’t you take that and five bucks to Starbucks and celebrate😉
Actually, you are delusional that you buy into manufactured irrelevance. When nine people out of 15,000,000+ phones sold complain, this does not exist as a real world problem. My iPhone 6 has not bent in my pocket. I don’t need consumer reports to tell me what I know. You, on the other hand, need to go away, and never come near an iPhone.
The iPhone 6+ sold NOWHERE NEAR 10,000,000 units let alone 15,000,000 units. I wish everyone would speak with more integrity that you are presenting. Don’t try to cloud or diminish the issue with using the overall sales numbers of both the 6 and 6+. The 6+ plus sold significantly way less units that the 6. So the ratios don’t work the way you’d like them to. Apple was smart to put that “9” number out there because that’s all anyone is going to focus on. I’d like to hear updated stats on this issue and a revised amount of phones that were returned (because it didn’t all of a sudden stop at 9.) Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever hear that, especially not within this Apple echo chamber.
Oh, so it’s only the 6+ that the manufactured PR campaign has been harping on, huh? Well, Consumer Reports claims the 6+ is even harder to bend than the 6. In my family, we have three iPhones — none have bent. If you own an iPhone (and you don’t) and it bent (it didn’t), then take it back to Apple — they offered all nine of you a refund. And while you’re there, take a look at your own integrity.
Wow! Ignorance must be bliss. Just based on the assumption that I don’t own any iPhones (2 iPhone 6’s and 1 5S) shows you’re talking out your ass. The primary phone that has been having bend issues is the 6+ not the 6. The phones bent in the Unboxed Therapy videos were 6+s. As far as Consumer Reports, it’s funny when they are proving what you want to hear, their word is gospel, when they have something negative to say about Apple, they’re either idiots or paid off. The Consumer Reports test was flawed because they did not use the weakest part of the phone as the pressure point. The volume rocker is where these phones bend because the structural integrity is the weakest there. That is where they should have applied the pressure, not the center of the phone. When I finally get my 6+, if it does bend, I will be taking it back, but honestly before all this came to light, if I found my phone bent I wouldn’t even think of taking it back because I would have thought that it was something I did and not due to a design deficiency.
Listen, you obviously are the expert on bendable iPhones, and you are admirably trying to help all the foolish iPhone 6 owners that think their phones are fine. Since you’re such a man of high integrity, I’m assuming you’re sounding off because your two iPhones are bent and you’ll be getting you’re getting your refund soon as a matter of principle. Enjoy your excellent Andriod phones.
Again, nothing to do with the iPhone 6. The 6+ is the phone of concern due to it’s larger size. I never once said anyone who owns a 6 or buys a 6 is foolish nor do I think it. My only issue is with those who treat this issue with a blind ignorance and typical Apple arrogance. Immediately I’m a troll because I speak a word of dissent. If everyone drinks the kool-aide who’s going to be left to challenge those in power and hold them accountable for their mistakes? I plan on getting a 6+, because I want an iPhone and I want the larger screen, but I’m making an informed decision not a blind one.
And by the way, remember what happens when you ASSume …. you’ve done a lot of it in your above posts.
And everyone is ignoring the fact that the iPhones score far higher than rivals in independent drop tests. Dropping is a far more likely way to damage a phone. No outrage about how much easier it is to break your Galaxy when it slips out of your hands. Actually, no publicity whatsoever.
While Consumer Reports clearly showed how much force is required to do damage to any of those phones, what their test failed to factor in was … can the average American fat ass inflict that kind of damage to a phone?
I would think even in the worse case – a back pocket – the phones would imbed themselves in the subcutaneous layer of fat and muscle of the buttocks before bending. Making these devices bend under test equipment is interesting, but I still want to see someone make one bend just from sitting on it.
150 pounds and 90 pounds are both ridiculously high levels of force that no normal person is ever going to exert on their phone. In the context of regular day to day use, the iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy Note are both unbendable.
It’s over.
this is a BS test. they only moved the blocks for the iPhone 5 test.
For the other tests, they did not center the iPhone 6 Plus, or the iPhone 6, which are shorter than the LG or the Samsung Note, so the blocks should have been moved relative to the phone size to provide the same “lever” relative to the body length of the phone.
On the bend test when one edge is not centered and the phone is allowed to slip on the sharp wooden corner of the wood block, there is an additional slipping and torsion applied to the phone. The phones with the most surface area on both of the wooden blocks withstood the most pressure.
Utterly irrelevant. Where’d ya get your physics degree? Liberty University?
@sligt Someone who gets it and sees through the fraud of those trying to prove that the 6+ doesn’t really bend. Adjust the pressure to where the stress point is the weakest and see the results. I want to see an “industrial” test that applies the force to the volume rockers, where the structural integrity seems to be the weakest, and then see how much force it takes to make it bend.
@everyone else Unbox Therapy made an additional video, in the streets of Totonto, where he gives you an uncut video of him doing the same bend test and the 6+ performs worse than the first one. How do you explain away that? Unfortunately, I have absolute faith that you will be able to, and once again call Unboxed Therapy’s integrity into question.
You anonymous arsehat. No one said that it would not bend. You said that.
What has been said and proven is that neither the iPhone 6 or Plus should bend under reasonable use conditions. They are both well-designed devices and are more resistant to damage in the bend test than some competitors.
In addition, bending is only one way to damage a cell phone. As has been pointed out by many, cell phones are far more likely to be damaged by dropping them. Previous models of Apple’s iPhones have been shown to be relatively more robust than its competitor phones when dropped.
But you want to troll and spew FUD. Do it elsewhere.
I must have struck a cord if your first and last responses are name calling. I guess your arguments just drop off so that’s all you can really cling to. It’s too bad that you’ve been ingesting a steady diet of Apple’s propaganda, because it has totally destroyed your ability for critical thinking.
Notice the bent battery? Do you think that loading the battery and putting a crimp in it is a safe thing?
Notice the extra thickness and weight? If you want a brick, then buy one.
It is you who are delusional. As I and other asserted several days ago, the original viral video test was misleading and unscientific.
No, the iPhone 6 and Plus are not the strongest in the bend test. But they are quite strong — plenty strong for its purpose and better than some of the competition which have not been attacked in this manner.
People are not necessarily delusional just because they do not agree with you. But you are delusional if you refuse to accept valid scientific evidence.
In addition, it is clear that most people do not understand loading conditions. The three point bend test shown in the CR video creates shear loads at the supported ends and a bending load in the middle of the span defined by the applied load and the moment arm.
Do not equate the test loads with a person’s body weight. If you put a phone in a tight back pocket and sit, you can create a lot of bending load (lb-ft or N-m). It is certainly possible to bend a phone in your pocket. The larger and thinner the phone, the more likely that scenario becomes.
So be careful – take care of your phone. If you treat it reasonably well, it won’t bend. If you plan on abusing it, then buy an Android phone, because it is a crime to abuse a fine piece of equipment like an iPhone.
I think you miss the point. The point is that all the fracas about bendable phones is ridiculous. None are bendable in normal use. That is no delusion.
And then the doctor said, “that will be $40.”
For Sligt, make that $60. 😉
Sir, you are way too optimistic. Brain scan is not going to help in his condition, not even a year long behavioral therapy worth many many of his Galaxy’s
Where is Samson when you need him?
He at least new how to deal with gates, gateposts, antennagates, bendgates, u2gates and all manner of gates and then have a laugh at his own handiwork 🙂
Apple needs Delilah 🙂
So that she can betray them to google? Again??
They already got rid of a Delilah who weaseled their iPhone secrets to Google.
MDN’s take “The End”.
My take – The End of Samsumg. Bendgate could have been Samsung’s lifeline.
…Therefore Bend gate was financed by Samscum
Yup
Normally I wouldn’t believe that of a company, but I could actually believe Samsung pulling such a shady stunt. They have proved conclusively that honesty and integrity are not in their corporate DNA.
Not just their lifeline, I’ve been wondering if they’re behind the whole thing anyway. They seemed to have some pretty slick responses for twitter ready when the hashtag took off.
BendyGate? Meh…
Oh darn. Now the Fandroid Doofus are deprived of more feeble ammunition. Oh wait there’s the update issues! What? 8.02 is out already??! DANG! We got nothin’ when we thought we had somethin’! Foiled again!
As I said in an earlier post, just a visual inspection will tell you that the phones I saw was bent by artificial means. That kind of damage didn’t occur from ordinary use.
Does anyone want a job bending bananas?
You mean they’re supposed to be straight? Damn, Target, conned me into buying a 2-pound bundle for $1.99. Shamesung was behind this and that Canadian Youtuber was in cahoots; I’m pretty sure.
Hold it the test results show something a little different:
The 6 at a deformation at 70 pounds of force compared to the 5 at 130 pounds is considerably LESS strong. 70 pounds is a significant amount of force but here is the problem: your back pocket 70 pounds of force is doable by half ones body weight (“one cheek” 😃 ) while 130 is NOT.
Apple might have a problem.
Not at all. Why would anyone sit on their phone? I could understand occasionally, as in an accident, but regularly? No wonder so many people have back problems.
The iPhone 6+ is HUGE. Why anyone would even try to fit that thing in a back pocket (never mind creating an opportunity for an alert thief) is a bit of a mystery.
If you’re saying that half of your body weight is carried by one cheek, you sit really weird.
Agree. That’s a really screwed-up understanding of physics.
in the test the pounds of force are exerted at a narrow band which is very different than a person sitting on it with a soft ass. Think ‘knife’, if you exert just a little pressure the knife cuts, surface area makes a difference. If the device CR used was WIDER you’ll get different poundage.
The test results show the 6 Plus to begin bending at 90 lbs of force, just like it says in the article. So no, the test results don’t show anything different.
And what kind of idiot would put their phone in their back pocket? Not only would it break, it would be extremely uncomfortable and very easily stolen.
thats right, phone kept in back pocket, thats crazy talk!
i keep my phone in my shoe
Maybe you should change your handle to `Inspector Gadget`. 😉
Uh…don’t you mean Maxwell Smart?
My 240 lb step son has managed to sit on and destroy 3 android phones. One Sony and two Samsung phones. All three were cheap “Feature” phones.
He still puts his crap phone in his back pocket. Hasn’t figured out how they keep breaking.
So, not only do you have to weigh at least 140 pounds and “sit weird” so as to put half of your entire weight on the phone in your back pocket, you also have to have a bottom with such a small radius that 70 pounds more pressure is being applied to the middle of the phone than to the ends. An interesting image.
What moron puts any size smartphone in their back pocket? Those kind of users need to go back to culvating their lint collections
All I’m saying is the results show less force is required then the 5s.
I’m thinking right now in normal use this shouldn’t be a problem but the door is open for real world results.
We will know if this is a problem in about 6 to 8 weeks. This very well could be a very big problem.
I’m still under contract with my 5s, so I can’t upgrade at this point. One thing I know is I will not buy a 6 knowing I’ll need a case to achieve durability needed for the phone to last 2+ years.
If this IS a problem with 10+ million iphone 6 units in the real world, we will know shortly.
PS: my back pocket one cheek example above is half a joke but just a thought experiment how 70 pounds of force could be exerted unintentionally on a phone.
70 pounds is significant but the guy in the video is doing it with his thumbs. There are lots of ways to apply this much force in real world situations. Sitting on your phone is one dumb way to do this. Sticking the phone on a car seat and putting box on top of it is another.
Does this matter in the real world? I’m saying “maybe” and we will know in a few weeks.
Funny how this all happened..,very Samcum like motif of the dumb looking real dumb by ridiculing cool…
CR trying to be relevant again after losing all credibility with antennagate…
How cute…
Yes, but it is good to see CR bend to Apple’s good sense.
Samsung was the strongest phone. They’re going to harp on that.
Looks like Samsung has shoved some money CR’s way. I noticed they did not show when the Note 3 begin to flex with it only failing. What was the weight required to “Flex” and “Separate”… We caught that. What about the S5? How those numbers look… CR?
Not quite as revealing as CR and Samsung wanted, yes?
Fortunately, there exist untold legions of lemmings, undiscerning fashionistas, and clueless consumers to provide fodder for the Apple PR machine: enough to keep Apple Inc. in business for at least one more round. After that, we must expect the lustre to fade, as the hard spotlight of reality shines on the poverty of innovation that has befallen Apple under the lackluster leadership of Tim Cook.
OMG what a nightmare, I dreamed I was JM. Gag me with a spoon
You had me horror-stricken until the last!
Inspiration strikes:
Out with: /s
In with: /JM
So now we will see the reports of this test in all the news outlets that carried the bendgate story. Yeah, sure.
Dumb bitches with phones in their back pockets.
Instead of Blendtec’s, “Will it blend?” It’s now, “Will it bend?”
I looked up some of the phone thickness in MM – correct if wrong.
7.9 MM S4 Samsung.
8.1 MM S5 Samsung.
8.3 MM Note 3 Samsung.
8.6 MM S3 Samsung.
8.9 MM G3 LG.
9.35 MM One (M8) HTC
7.1. MM iPhone 6 Plus
6.9. MM iPhone 6
Not bad for such a thin body and soft metal at that – a credit to the unibody design.
It’s mm, nos MM. wonder what MM would be, MegaMegas?
Forgot it was lower case, use the metric system rarely.
The Moto X is 9.97 mm thick… Used in the second video. A brick of a phone to put in your pocket and add a case to that – no thanks.
it’s good that CR report is positive but the controversy won’t go away
the Unbox guy has a new video
(note though that the phone is said to be brand new and unwrapped yet it is functional without setup. )
——
1st video, he bends the phone with a LOT of force needed. it’s not instant.
2nd video, bends the iPhone with ease.
I want him to make a 3rd video.
IN AN APPLE STORE, grab a brand new sealed iPhone 6 plus and have the camera rolling (uncut) as he cuts the plastic, takes the iPhone out and bends it as easy as he did the 2nd time.
ANYTHING less I still call BS on him. the 2nd video, the iPhone he said it’s brand new… but he went through the setup process… so what else did he do with the iPhone?
And again he goes back to the Moto X. So.. how much does he get paid to shill for the phone?
oh.. just FYI, the plastic is on backwards in the video.
“Sealed” nope, it’s been tampered with. The plastic peels off from the front.. not the back.
I I agree with what you’re saying but every time apple fans point out flaws in the videos (see the original Youtube comments) the haters say we’re fanboys etc.
How does Apple finish this bend gate idiocy once and for all?
Set up a web site where all the iPhones returned for visible damage due to bending are collected.
The number of units will speak for itself.
As long as someone can get millions of hits (does anyone know the exchange rate for hits to dollars?) for a couple hundred bucks, it’s not going to go away. It’ll go away when people get bored with it. this is just like the Freeze and Shooting videos only those are skewed to a particular audience. This person has gamed for a larger demographic chunk and has succeeded at it.
Have Tim Cook invite the guy to meet at an Apple store and while on camera bend a brand new iPhone 6 Plus.
I’m starting to think he has those knock off google phones..
Notice how he doesn’t let you see the back of the iPhone much? and how every phone is already at the home screen?
I want to see Apple’s white welcome screen. And one bent from a sealed box.. and not a box that he brings on camera, it’s easy to shrink wrap a box.
The guy IMO is proving himself to be a fraud with these videos, it’s no the people ripping into his video, he is almost desperate to show people that he is right.. so he bent the 2nd phone a little too fast on camera..
The first iPhone he bent did not separate like the 2nd one did. (and it took longer to bend)
In the first video, the unbox guy put a good point load force in the middle of the iPhone over a few seconds until it failed.
In the second video he was obviously pissed off he had been called a fraud. He was angry. He then put much more force in over a shorter time period, less than a second.
Of course it is going to bend more easily.
And since when did the test for standard everyday use of an iPhone ever become whether you could deliberately bend it in their fingers?
Has anyone noticed that these are all males bending these phones?
SquareTrade gave the iPhone 6 Plus to a female staff member, she couldn’t make it budge.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/09/25/no-you-probably-cant-bend-the-iphone-6-plus-unless-youre-a-bodybuilder/
The fact is, bending an iPhone with your fingers proves absolutely nothing. The controversy is about whether iPhones can bend easily in your pocket.
Until someone makes an uncut video several hours long, where a person goes about their day with the 6 plus in their pocket and it comes out bent, then this bend gate thing is complete and utter bullshit.
thanks wasn’t aware of that video.
There is more to phone durability than being ‘bendable’.
SquareTrade the gadget insurer has a ‘break ability’ index.
—-
“Having put the new iPhones through its gauntlet of durability tests this weekend, SquareTrade found that the iPhone 6 holds up impressively well in drops, spills and slips—despite the fact that the new, thinner iPhones are tougher to hold onto given their smooth edges and bigger screens.
The iPhone 6 Plus fared well, too, managing to beat out Samsung’s Galaxy S5 as “the most durable phone with a screen larger than five inches.”
“Both new iPhones are bigger and more durable than any before them,” a SquareTrade spokesman said in the YouTube video showing off the company’s testing. “The iPhone 6 passed all of our tests with flying colors. ”
http://blogs.wsj.com/personal-technology/2014/09/22/iphone-6-is-the-most-durable-iphone-yet-says-insurer/
After reading some other blogs, it now appears the YouTube video is a fraud. The guy starts out saying he’s going to bend the iPhone 6 +, then proceeds to show the video of him bending it at 2:26 PM, as displayed on the face of the iPhone, then returns to him saying how sad it is, while holding the bent iPhone. Unfortunately, the face of the iPhone now says 1:59 PM. So, he bent the iPhone before he started, straightened it out, then videoed his bending the iPhone at the weakened point.
Also, who carries a glass faced phone in their pocket face out? I learned that lesson over a decade ago when I smashed the face of a candy bar phone against a metal railing.
Hmm… I see that my 5s is considerably stronger than a 6.
Also it has the useful (for photography) flat edges.
If I drive a BMW into a poll, it bends the bumper.
Moral of the story, don’t drive a BMW into a poll . . . at least not too fast.
If you can choose to run down any poll you want, please choose a Fox News poll. They’re pretty useless and won’t be a great loss.
Apple should sue the guy for all the money he got thru this fraudulent video.
Go for it Tim.
Yeah, cos that is exactly what Apple are good at doing…employing pathetic lawyers with pathetic arguments for a pathetic company.
Ok, let us not confuse Apple with Samsung.
Perhaps some tests of deliberately smashing the front screen, to see how easily they are damaged? How come no videos comparing glass hardness?
I saw a bend Samsung KN55S9C, a 55-inch OLED TV, in a shop. That;s how to come out of the box. Bend is the trend!
If you weigh 200 lbs and are dumb enough to put any brand phone in your back pocket and sit idown n a hard chair and not expect it to bend, then you got what you deserved…if it did bend.