“A few blocks away from Apple’s bustling campus in Cupertino is a rather nondescript building. Inside is absolutely the last place on earth you’d want to be if you were an iPhone,” Josh Lowensohn reports for The Verge. “It’s here where Apple subjects its newest models to the kinds of things they might run into in the real world: drops, pressure, twisting, tapping. Basically all the things that could turn your shiny gadget into a small pile of metal and glass.”
“The iPhone 6 [and 6 Plus are] tough,” Lowensohn reports. “Made with steel / titanium inserts designed to reinforce potential stress points, a special blend of aluminum Apple formulated itself, and ion-strengthened glass. But more important, Apple says, is that the iPhone 6 has been put through hundreds of tests, as well as tested in the pockets of thousands of Apple employees before consumers ever get their hands on it,” Lowensohn reports. “What’s the exact number of devices Apple went through before it was done? About 15,000 for each the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, according to the company.”
“Some of the testing I saw today was what can be considered torture tests, but it also puts the phones through the regular stresses that they might undergo in the wild. That includes being sat on in pockets — and being bent” Lowensohn reports. “The idea is to give the phones a lifetime of testing, but without spending a lifetime doing it. The machines that do this methodically set various pads and pressures on the phones over and over again.”
Much more, including many photos, in the full article here.
Related articles:
Tim Cook’s Apple rises to ‘Bendygate’ challenge – September 26, 2014
A Tale Of Two Apples – September 26, 2014
After hemorrhaging $23 billion in market value, Apple plays defense – September 26, 2014
Apple opens testing facility to reporters, details exhaustive iPhone 6 Plus durability tests – September 25, 2014
Apple’s so-called ‘quality assurance’ manager responsible for iOS 8.0.1, was also responsible for Apple Maps – September 25, 2014
Apple releases iOS 8.0.2 – September 25, 2014
Apple’s gauntlet of five durability tests that iPhone 6 Plus passed with flying colors – September 25, 2014
Samsung, HTC, BlackBerry, and others mock ‘bendability’ of Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus – September 25, 2014
Apple: Only nine customers have complained about bent iPhone 6 Plus units – September 25, 2014
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s banana skins: U2, ‘Bendygate’ and iOS 8.0.1 – September 25, 2014
iOS 8.0.1 fiasco: Apple exec responsible for catching bugs before release has a ferocious door-slamming temper – September 24, 2014
Apple pulls iOS 8.0.1 after users report major problems – September 24, 2014
If ‘bending’ is all Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus rivals have left, they’re roadkill – September 24, 2014
SquareTrade Breakability Tests: Apple iPhone 6 earns best score ever, iPhone 6 Plus not far behind – September 24, 2014
Inside Apple’s special event live stream’s epic meltdown – September 10, 2014
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.
And there you have it. I have a motorhome on a chassis built from steel I-beams. It is possible to bend that chassis, but not under normal usage. Same goes for iPhones. Anyone who didn’t already know that Apple had this lab is a fool who doesn’t know much about building millions of complex devices.
iPhone 4 Antennagate: Apple reveals their secret antenna testing facility and methods.
iPhone 6 Bendgate: Apple reveals their secret durability testing facility and methods.
Competitors will surely cook up a Designgate for iPhone 8 to make Apple reveal their secret design sauce…
What kind of people are you? You sit there and you watch these poor, innocent phones beings put through the most horrible kinds of depraved abuse, and all you can talk about is whether some YouTube video is faked or not? Where is your empathy? Where is your moral outrage?
#freethephones!
It seems as if the stress test conducted by apple isn’t too great. Theres a new discovery that MDN has posted yet. http://www.cultofmac.com/297938/weakspot-theory-shows-bendgates-quite-dead-yet/
Anyone that’s starting their analysis with a dubious video isn’t proving anything. Let’s have that person actually bend the phone based on their assumptions and see what happens.
So yeah it’s dead except for the folks that want to keeping it alive because it’s AWESOME for clicks 🙂
That clever headline writing tricked me: I thought there’d be pics of chains and leather things and nipple clamps and whatnot.