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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Tech News > Consumer Reports: iPhone 6 'bending' controversy overblown

Consumer Reports: iPhone 6 'bending' controversy overblown
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NewsPoster
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Sep 26, 2014, 11:10 PM
 
Adding to new suspicions that some of the "iPhone 6 Plus easily bends" videos appearing on the web may have been staged, Consumer Reports has now weighed in with the results of its own independent testing that largely refutes the claims that the phones can bend easily. After testing both models of new iPhone, as well as some other smartphones and phablets, the lab found that while the new iPhones were indeed less resilient than the iPhone 5 or Samsung's Galaxy Note 3, the HTC One (M8) is actually the most prone to deformation.

CR
CR's swath of destruction


The biggest surprise in the testing was that the iPhone 6, the 4.7-inch model, was the more "bend-prone" of the two new iPhones, showing signs of permanent deformation (bending) at 70 pounds of force, with complete screen separation occurring at the 100 pounds of force mark. The iPhone 6 Plus, which has been the focus of the videos, withstood 90 pounds of force before bending, and 110 pounds before breaking, reports AppleInsider.

The HTC One (M8) was the most prone to bending of the models tested, bending at 60 pounds of force and with screen separation at 90 pounds. The "winner" of the testing was the Galaxy Note 3, which tended to recover from the force tests (although not 100 percent) until finally breaking outright at 150 pounds of pressure. In second place was the iPhone 5, which bent at 130 pounds and broke at the same 150 pounds as the Note. LG's G3 smartphone was difficult to permanently bend like the Note 3, but shattered at 130 pounds of force.

The revelation that metal tends to bend while plastic tends to snap should come as no surprise to most grade-school science students, but the testing does show that Apple's decision to make the iPhone 6 10 percent thinner the iPhone 5 did come with a compromise, despite the strengthening efforts the company made. During its tour of the iPhone testing facilities, Apple noted that its new phones could withstand pressure of at least 55 pounds of force.

It should also be noted that the iPhone 6, at 6.9mm, and the iPhone 6 Plus at 7.1mm were the two thinnest phones tested. The iPhone 5 is 7.6mm thick, the Galaxy Note 3 is 8.3mm, the LG G3 is 8.9mm and the HTC One was 9.35mm.


( Last edited by NewsPoster; Sep 27, 2014 at 12:02 AM. )
     
rtamesis
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Sep 27, 2014, 12:26 PM
 
Apple should probably sue the maker of that video if its was indeed staged and intended to malign Apple.
     
pottymouth
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Sep 27, 2014, 12:55 PM
 
Overblown? Duh. The only people that were latching on to this story were the people that already hate Apple. Everyone else knows that this BS is irrelevant in real-world use.
     
prl99
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Sep 27, 2014, 03:28 PM
 
@potty, Crazy investors and analysts were the biggest threat from this incident. All they needed to downgrade the stock was to accept the possibility of a problem with Apple products and then go crazy, which they did and the stock dropped big time on Thursday. People blame that on the overall market dropping but the overall market dropped because AAPL dropped.
     
DiabloConQueso
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Sep 27, 2014, 04:05 PM
 
Out of the four or five major stock averaging conglomerates, Apple appears on two, maybe three of them.

To say that the entire market dropped *because* AAPL dropped is not in any way accurate. That's why those averaging conglomerates exist: to give an overall "health" indicator of any given market without the ability of one, single company dragging it up or down.
     
HappyPhil
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Sep 27, 2014, 06:03 PM
 
The big news story that resulted when less than a dozen of the 10,000,000.00 new iPhones were bent by customers is interesting. Why would that be big news?

Let me make a tinfoil hat and look for a big competitor to Apple and investigate why it is not big news when their computers and phones break or fail. Then I would have to ask the question, "Why does this make it to the news?".

Could it be that Apple donates money to the democratic party and the other computer company donates to the republicans. My tinfoil hat is beginning to smoke.

Why is this iPhone issue all over the media? Who owns the media? Oh! My tinfoil hat is melting.
     
RickyS
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Sep 27, 2014, 06:27 PM
 
While I enjoyed their video on the iPhone 6 plus bendgate.
I think it's missing the point. Hopefully not on purpose.
They were only bending them for 10 seconds and then letting them flex back. But the reports I've herard are that they bend when stressed for hours at a time in pants poket.
As I am wanting to get an iPhone 6 plus when they are available. And I cary my phone in my front jeans pocket I would be interested in seeing the test done again.

If they could redo the test at 10 and 20 pounds and hold it for 1 hour, then 2 hours and so on to see how long it takes for it to not flex back. That would be more reflective of the reports and real life (as it's not uncommon to be driving with my phone in my front jeans pocket for many hours).
The other thing they should do to make it more scientific is test how much force an object the size of the iPhone 6 plus receives in tight jeans when sitting. And use that as the weight they use to hold for icrimental hours at a time.
     
panjandrum
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Sep 27, 2014, 07:50 PM
 
It is nice to see this. It's definitely interesting that the plus is less prone than the regular model. Points to Apple doing their homework and reinforcing the larger model properly.
     
just a poster
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Sep 27, 2014, 09:22 PM
 
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Which device(s) is(are) most damaged in the picture attached in the article above?
     
Charles Martin
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Sep 28, 2014, 01:05 AM
 
It looks to me like the 5s (which I think is the one in the very back) and 6 are still operative. The iPhone 6 Plus isn't, but I'd say the other one in the back is the "most" broken.

What I found interesting is that the HTC One is the MOST fragile of all of them, and yet for some strange reason there was no outcry, no scandal. Is it because nobody bought one, or because those who did aren't as stupid as some other kinds of owners?
Charles Martin
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Mr. Strat
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Sep 28, 2014, 10:53 PM
 
I've been getting a bit PO'd when showing my Plus to people the past few days. They always ask, "Is that the one that bends?" I don't laugh.

If you watch the videos, the people are putting highly abnormal amounts of pressure to get them to bend. Jeez...put the sucker in a vise if you want to wreck it.

Here's a clue: don't stick it in your pocket and sit on it. DUH!
     
   
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