5 ms·

Bent iPhone claims put Apple under pressure to respond

54 points by HarveyKandola 12y ago

zzenon 12y ago
perfect opportunity for Apple to introduce iPants. Joke aside, this is something that Apple needs to quickly address without putting customers at fault. You cannot just tell the customers not to put their phones in their pocket.
- _pmf_ 12y ago
  > Joke aside, this is something that Apple needs to quickly address without putting customers at fault. You cannot just tell the customers not to put their phones in their pocket. They cannot address the issues for existing devices and all devices that are in the pipeline. Users on backorder could cancel their orders, but most won't do that, so why should they bother? In a year people will be joking about not buying first generation Apple devices and that's it.
cpwright 12y ago
So at least for me, if I can't stick a phone in my pocket it is useless. If I can't carry my phone with me everywhere, I might as well not have it. I can understand not sitting on it, but not putting it in my front pocket seems incredibly limiting, because that is pretty much the only place I would have to put it when out and about. I expect most people will have a case for the phone. I personally have a 5 right now and have it in a BookBook wallet/case, which is not really very rigid. I'll want something similar when it comes time to upgrade to a 6, but if I can't actually stick it in my pocket I'll need to find an alternative. Or maybe pay for a battery replacement on the 5.
- ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
  5s? That's what I'm leaning towards upgrading from the 5.
  - cpwright 12y ago
    I think the bigger screen of a 6 and the promise of Apple Pay provides enough additional value over the 5. I don't find the 5s as compelling an upgrade, and would rather spend $90 on a battery instead of hundreds on a 5S (the battery is really only complaint I have about my 5).
- ChristianGeek 12y ago
  I wouldn't dream of carrying my phone in my pocket...I wear jeans most of the time and it's just plain uncomfortable. I've always carried my iPhones in a vertical, open-ended belt holster (the Sena Elega), which allows me to quickly reach down and retrieve the phone or hit the power button to silence an alarm/call. (Obviously the new position of the power button will prevent me from the latter.)
joshdance 12y ago
We have seen this before. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/260526?tstart=0 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/260526?tstart=0 Put a think computer in your pocket, bend, and it will bend. Get a case or protect it. I have had an iPhone since the 3, never used a case, only broken one iPhone by being extra careful.
TheIronYuppie 12y ago
I wonder to what extent this (and the antenna issue before it) are a result of Apple being so secretive. Because they don't take prototypes out for real world testing, or encase them in bulky facades if they do, they don't understand how real people are going to use it. Still think it's stupid - just because this behavior didn't result in a bent iPhone before doesn't mean it was good.
IgorPartola 12y ago
So I thought that http://imgur.com/gallery/FSXJp http://imgur.com/gallery/FSXJp was a joke. Turns out, nope, it's a real problem. I wonder if Apple did have to fix it, how they'd go about it. I assume reenforcing the body of the phone externally is not really feasible, but manufacturing better bodies and swapping them out en masse would be very expensive and take a long time, no?
Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
We need to know the proportion of people this is happening to to understand whether this is a thing or not. Apple supposedly sold 10 million phones on the weekend of release, more since. Apparently more of those are 6s than 6 Pluses but we don't know the exact numbers or breakdown right now. Similarly we know a few people have had problems but it doesn't seem clear whether it's a few, a few tens, a few hundred or many thousands. Ultimately this may be bad design ignoring real world valid use cases, it may be dumbness on the part of a small number of vocal users, but without knowing what sort of numbers are seeing the problem and what that is as a proportion of sales it's almost impossible to say. Right now all we can really say is some iPhone 6s and 6 Pluses have bent and based on that it's no wonder Apple haven't said anything. Not a great story but probably all that we really know right now.
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  Even if it happens to "only 2 percent" of iPhone 6 Plus owners, that seems like a pretty big number to me for such an issue to even exist.
  - hyperpape 12y ago
    I would consider 2 percent a huge number, yes. I'd also expect Apple to do refunds for those 2 percent, both in the sense that I'd demand it if it were my phone, and that historically they've done things like that. But we still need to know the number. Has anything so far suggested it might be as high as 2 percent?
  - Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
    Only 2% would almost certainly be tens of thousands so I'd agree. But right now this doesn't feel like this is tens of thousands. On the other hand it is early days.
- zenciadam 12y ago
  Saw one of those phones on Monday before I was aware that this was a thing. The phone looked like a piece of vinyl that had been left out on a hot summer day. No real defence for this other than poor engineering. It's basically the Apple III all over.
serve_yay 12y ago
Oh brother.
- blisterpeanuts 12y ago
  ...wherefore art thou?
joezydeco 12y ago
I really want Apple to issue a statement along the lines of "You asked for a thinner lighter phone, you got it. Now stop being an idiot and sitting on it and we'll all be fine." This is all just incredibly stupid. The fact it bends and continues to function should be newsworthy, not the other way around.
- song 12y ago
  I wanted a thicker sturdy phone with more battery and without a protruding camera and I don't think I'm the only one.
- KJasper 12y ago
  "You're holding it wrong" is my expected response.
  - akramhussein 12y ago
    "Don't put it in your pocket" :)
  - ArcticCelt 12y ago
    Or maybe Apple will release a model of more loosely fitting jeans to put less pressure on the phone?
    - pkorzeniewski 12y ago
      I wonder how much such jeans with Apple logo would cost.. :)
      - hanley 12y ago
        You joke, but Apple did have a clothing line at one point... http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-80s-clothing-line-2014-8?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-80s-clothing-line-2014-...
    - blisterpeanuts 12y ago
51Cards 12y ago
I suspect this could also be related to iPhone users having had a fairly small phone to date. Slipping the iPhone into a pocket till now has been an easy practice, so I assume the same is being done out of habit with the new larger models. The new form factor (larger AND thinner) can't stand up to the stresses.
- Naga 12y ago
  Somehow, my Galaxy Note 2 has survived the rigors of my front pocket for close to two years without bending or cracking. Phablets really aren't that big.
jader201 12y ago
I've owned every generation of iPhone since the 3GS, and definitely think this is being blown out of proportion. I have a 6 (4.7"), and don't have (and doint think I ever will have) any issues with this. However, I will say that the Galaxy Note bend video [1] in (response to the iPhone 6 Plus bend test [2]) was impressive, and shows that while metal material is more stylish, plastic seems to be much more durable. Of course, I know these are far from scientific tests, but it still seems to show some sense of durability between the two. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwM4ypi3at0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwM4ypi3at0 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znK652H6yQM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znK652H6yQM
- esolyt 12y ago
  I think the issue is mainly with the iPhone 6 Plus, not the 6.
- smackfu 12y ago
  It's not really plastic vs. metal, it's plastic vs. aluminum. Steel would be a much better choice for strength, it's just heavy.
  - jader201 12y ago
    Absolutely right. I guess it's more like this: - Stylish - Durable - Lightweight Pick two.
    - m_mueller 12y ago
      Well - Titanium. But then we get into issues with mass availability.
      - jpgvm 12y ago
        There are a number of magnesium alloys which while not as tanky as titanium would be I think would be viable contenders to construct the chassis out of. You could still use an aluminium skin as it's much more attractive usually.
squid_ca 12y ago
Has this been a problem with other, non-Apple phones of a similar form factor? If so, this is a design issue. If not, this is an Apple design issue.
- nilkn 12y ago
  It's a problem with the phone's aluminum construction. A phone like the Note 3, made with less premium-feeling plastic, responds better to stress like this. It can be bent, but it just bends right back with no permanent bend left.
  - pmahoney 12y ago
    The aluminum phone yields, undergoing plastic deformation, while the plastic phone deforms elastically.
jrochkind1 12y ago
> "Even the most recent smartphones are not designed to be put in pockets where they are going to be under the most chassis strain. And this just illustrates the fact that the public's desire for manufacturers to strive for ever thinner and lighter devices means that we are getting ever more fragile devices. > "Just casually sticking a £700 smartphone in your pocket is an increasingly reckless thing to do." Wait, this guy really thinks that users should be expected to know that it's reckless to keep their _phone_ in their pocket, and that they weren't designed for this? That seems not right. I am confident that most people, unless educated otherwise, will assume that phones are designed to go in pockets. If manufacturers really aren't designing phones to go in pockets, they are going to have to educate users on this. The pocket has been the place non-purse-carrying people have kept their phone since the first mobile phone that was small enough to fit in a pocket.
- georgemcbay 12y ago
  Yeah that quote ("Just casually sticking a £700 smartphone in your pocket is an increasingly reckless thing to do.") and its blame-shifting to the user is really ridiculous. What the fuck are you supposed to do with it, keep it in a safe at home? Analyst bias aside, I've seen many, many similar posts on the Internet on this issue from many users using similar logic. Apple doesn't have a monopoly on mindless fanboyism but their most ardent fans do tend to (pun intended) bend into more ridiculous positions than most while defending bad design decisions or quality assurance lapses made by the company.
- jbrooksuk 12y ago
  I have always put phones in my front pockets - not so much my back, unless I'm going for a walk - but it's never been an issue since the first phone I ever had. It's completely ridiculous not to put it in a pocket of some sort. My iPhone 6 is due to be delivered on the 7th Oct, so I'm hoping it's just a faulty batch.
  - praseodym 12y ago
    It seems to be only affecting the iPhone 6 Plus though, i.e. the largest model.
rayiner 12y ago
They said the same thing about the iPhone 5 (http://www.cultofmac.com/248603/iphone-5ses-are-bending-in-peoples-pockets); http://www.cultofmac.com/248603/iphone-5ses-are-bending-in-p... Xperia Z1 (http://www.phonearena.com/news/Xperia-Z1-frame-bending-for-no-reason-claim-users_id51383); http://www.phonearena.com/news/Xperia-Z1-frame-bending-for-n... Nexus 5 (http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-5/387390-nexus-5-wobbly-bent.html http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-5/387390-nexus...), and I'm sure many others.
- smackfu 12y ago
  The iPhone 6+ is thinner and longer than the iPhone 5, so it makes a lot of sense it would be more prone to bending due to physics.
  - rayiner 12y ago
    The point is that these articles come out every time there is a new thin phone, but then you never hear about it again because it doesn't happen to any substantial portion of buyers.
adriand 12y ago
I love Apple (I've got an iPhone 5, an iPad 3, a Macbook and an iMac) but it always dismays me how Apple fans often respond to any issue with an Apple product with "it's your fault". A guy on MacRumors posted up about his experience with a bent phone and received some supportive comments, but also gems like, "It's aluminum, it's a noticeably longer device and as such it is likely to be bent more easily than previous iPhones. You should expect that it would be easier to bend and act accordingly." How is this reasonable? We should know better than to put the phone in our pockets? I sincerely hope Apple does the right thing here and takes responsibility if in fact this turns out to be a legitimate and widespread problem.
- martiuk 12y ago
  People like to defend their purchases, especially their $700 ones.
27182818284 12y ago
I played with the 6+ for the first time last night, and it surprises me people even sit down with it. It seems like like it would be immediately awkward from its size.
blisterpeanuts 12y ago
A few ideas about this problem: 1. Consumer behavior factors - Get a case. These devices will break if dropped, and when you are carrying it in your hand many times a day, it is highly likely to be dropped. It's a matter of "when", not "if". - Don't carry the device in pants pockets. Carry it in a shirt pocket, or in a bag or satchel or hang it on your belt. Solved. 2. Manufacturing and marketing factors - Distribute 5,000 beta devices and really field test them. Manufacturers, especially Apple, hate to do this because it reveals the secret design in advance of the dramatic release event. But field testing the devices makes more sense given their complexity and unknown uses and conditions to which they will be subjected. - Make the devices thicker and sturdier. Many of us would not complain about an extra millimeter or two of thickness, especially if it means a bigger battery and some nice-to-haves such as a memory card slot. Thinness is costly, too. Make it an indestructible brick, charge less, and millions will continue to buy the devices. - An alternative view: yield to bendiness! Make the displays bendy, make the cases flexible, and accept that customers want to abuse their phones by sitting on them in tight jeans.
- smackfu 12y ago
  Seems like a case would only help if it was made of metal.
  - Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
    If a metal phone is bending why couldn't a metal case? It's not the material, it's the construction. The case could be made of plastic so long as it had something along the long sides preventing it flexing.
    - smackfu 12y ago
      True. I should have said that a case will only help if it's structural. Most of them are not.
- kumarm 12y ago
  >>Get a case. If getting case is a Must, why even worry about slim and beautiful devices? So much for good Industrial Design.
paromi 12y ago
I have one of the slimmest android devices huawei p6 (6.2 mm vs 7.1 mm for iphone 6 plus) for a year and a half and im not having any issues with it bending or giving the feeling that its fragile. http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_p6-5467.php http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_p6-5467.php
- smackfu 12y ago
  Is the back plate on that metal or plastic? It's the metal back that is bending and then staying bent, while plastic will bend and then return back.
jojofanboy 12y ago
There is a lot of fanboys out there still defending Apple with ridiculous arguments. Being a consumer, for me, this is unacceptable. Paying 800 to 900€ for a phone that has the quality of a sub 100€ phone is simply taunting the actual Apple costumers. Mark my words. This will be the major flop remembered in the future for the start of the downfall of this brand. This will make history. The excessively low production costs with these devices made in China with low quality standards and low QA at an excessively price range for the end consumer. The profit margin in this phone has to be huge and will serve as an example in the future in how a major international manufacturing fiasco is made of. This is truly amazing.
steanne 12y ago
apple has specifically advertised the iphone as fitting in a pocket. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxtyxCAxGNE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxtyxCAxGNE

54 points by HarveyKandola 12y ago

perfect opportunity for Apple to introduce iPants. Joke aside, this is something that Apple needs to quickly address without putting customers at fault. You cannot just tell the customers not to put their phones in their pocket.

_pmf_ 12y ago
> Joke aside, this is something that Apple needs to quickly address without putting customers at fault. You cannot just tell the customers not to put their phones in their pocket. They cannot address the issues for existing devices and all devices that are in the pipeline. Users on backorder could cancel their orders, but most won't do that, so why should they bother? In a year people will be joking about not buying first generation Apple devices and that's it.

cpwright 12y ago

So at least for me, if I can't stick a phone in my pocket it is useless. If I can't carry my phone with me everywhere, I might as well not have it. I can understand not sitting on it, but not putting it in my front pocket seems incredibly limiting, because that is pretty much the only place I would have to put it when out and about. I expect most people will have a case for the phone. I personally have a 5 right now and have it in a BookBook wallet/case, which is not really very rigid. I'll want something similar when it comes time to upgrade to a 6, but if I can't actually stick it in my pocket I'll need to find an alternative. Or maybe pay for a battery replacement on the 5.

ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
5s? That's what I'm leaning towards upgrading from the 5.
- cpwright 12y ago
  I think the bigger screen of a 6 and the promise of Apple Pay provides enough additional value over the 5. I don't find the 5s as compelling an upgrade, and would rather spend $90 on a battery instead of hundreds on a 5S (the battery is really only complaint I have about my 5).
ChristianGeek 12y ago
I wouldn't dream of carrying my phone in my pocket...I wear jeans most of the time and it's just plain uncomfortable. I've always carried my iPhones in a vertical, open-ended belt holster (the Sena Elega), which allows me to quickly reach down and retrieve the phone or hit the power button to silence an alarm/call. (Obviously the new position of the power button will prevent me from the latter.)

joshdance 12y ago

We have seen this before. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/260526?tstart=0 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/260526?tstart=0 Put a think computer in your pocket, bend, and it will bend. Get a case or protect it. I have had an iPhone since the 3, never used a case, only broken one iPhone by being extra careful.

TheIronYuppie 12y ago

I wonder to what extent this (and the antenna issue before it) are a result of Apple being so secretive. Because they don't take prototypes out for real world testing, or encase them in bulky facades if they do, they don't understand how real people are going to use it. Still think it's stupid - just because this behavior didn't result in a bent iPhone before doesn't mean it was good.

IgorPartola 12y ago

So I thought that http://imgur.com/gallery/FSXJp http://imgur.com/gallery/FSXJp was a joke. Turns out, nope, it's a real problem. I wonder if Apple did have to fix it, how they'd go about it. I assume reenforcing the body of the phone externally is not really feasible, but manufacturing better bodies and swapping them out en masse would be very expensive and take a long time, no?

Tyrannosaurs 12y ago

We need to know the proportion of people this is happening to to understand whether this is a thing or not. Apple supposedly sold 10 million phones on the weekend of release, more since. Apparently more of those are 6s than 6 Pluses but we don't know the exact numbers or breakdown right now. Similarly we know a few people have had problems but it doesn't seem clear whether it's a few, a few tens, a few hundred or many thousands. Ultimately this may be bad design ignoring real world valid use cases, it may be dumbness on the part of a small number of vocal users, but without knowing what sort of numbers are seeing the problem and what that is as a proportion of sales it's almost impossible to say. Right now all we can really say is some iPhone 6s and 6 Pluses have bent and based on that it's no wonder Apple haven't said anything. Not a great story but probably all that we really know right now.

higherpurpose 12y ago
Even if it happens to "only 2 percent" of iPhone 6 Plus owners, that seems like a pretty big number to me for such an issue to even exist.
- hyperpape 12y ago
  I would consider 2 percent a huge number, yes. I'd also expect Apple to do refunds for those 2 percent, both in the sense that I'd demand it if it were my phone, and that historically they've done things like that. But we still need to know the number. Has anything so far suggested it might be as high as 2 percent?
- Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
  Only 2% would almost certainly be tens of thousands so I'd agree. But right now this doesn't feel like this is tens of thousands. On the other hand it is early days.
zenciadam 12y ago
Saw one of those phones on Monday before I was aware that this was a thing. The phone looked like a piece of vinyl that had been left out on a hot summer day. No real defence for this other than poor engineering. It's basically the Apple III all over.

serve_yay 12y ago

Oh brother.

blisterpeanuts 12y ago
...wherefore art thou?

joezydeco 12y ago

I really want Apple to issue a statement along the lines of "You asked for a thinner lighter phone, you got it. Now stop being an idiot and sitting on it and we'll all be fine." This is all just incredibly stupid. The fact it bends and continues to function should be newsworthy, not the other way around.

song 12y ago
I wanted a thicker sturdy phone with more battery and without a protruding camera and I don't think I'm the only one.
KJasper 12y ago
"You're holding it wrong" is my expected response.
- akramhussein 12y ago
  "Don't put it in your pocket" :)
- ArcticCelt 12y ago
  Or maybe Apple will release a model of more loosely fitting jeans to put less pressure on the phone?
  - pkorzeniewski 12y ago
    I wonder how much such jeans with Apple logo would cost.. :)
    - hanley 12y ago
      You joke, but Apple did have a clothing line at one point... http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-80s-clothing-line-2014-8?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-80s-clothing-line-2014-...
  - blisterpeanuts 12y ago

51Cards 12y ago

I suspect this could also be related to iPhone users having had a fairly small phone to date. Slipping the iPhone into a pocket till now has been an easy practice, so I assume the same is being done out of habit with the new larger models. The new form factor (larger AND thinner) can't stand up to the stresses.

Naga 12y ago
Somehow, my Galaxy Note 2 has survived the rigors of my front pocket for close to two years without bending or cracking. Phablets really aren't that big.

jader201 12y ago

I've owned every generation of iPhone since the 3GS, and definitely think this is being blown out of proportion. I have a 6 (4.7"), and don't have (and doint think I ever will have) any issues with this. However, I will say that the Galaxy Note bend video [1] in (response to the iPhone 6 Plus bend test [2]) was impressive, and shows that while metal material is more stylish, plastic seems to be much more durable. Of course, I know these are far from scientific tests, but it still seems to show some sense of durability between the two. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwM4ypi3at0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwM4ypi3at0 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znK652H6yQM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znK652H6yQM

esolyt 12y ago
I think the issue is mainly with the iPhone 6 Plus, not the 6.
smackfu 12y ago
It's not really plastic vs. metal, it's plastic vs. aluminum. Steel would be a much better choice for strength, it's just heavy.
- jader201 12y ago
  Absolutely right. I guess it's more like this: - Stylish - Durable - Lightweight Pick two.
  - m_mueller 12y ago
    Well - Titanium. But then we get into issues with mass availability.
    - jpgvm 12y ago
      There are a number of magnesium alloys which while not as tanky as titanium would be I think would be viable contenders to construct the chassis out of. You could still use an aluminium skin as it's much more attractive usually.

squid_ca 12y ago

Has this been a problem with other, non-Apple phones of a similar form factor? If so, this is a design issue. If not, this is an Apple design issue.

nilkn 12y ago
It's a problem with the phone's aluminum construction. A phone like the Note 3, made with less premium-feeling plastic, responds better to stress like this. It can be bent, but it just bends right back with no permanent bend left.
- pmahoney 12y ago
  The aluminum phone yields, undergoing plastic deformation, while the plastic phone deforms elastically.

jrochkind1 12y ago

> "Even the most recent smartphones are not designed to be put in pockets where they are going to be under the most chassis strain. And this just illustrates the fact that the public's desire for manufacturers to strive for ever thinner and lighter devices means that we are getting ever more fragile devices. > "Just casually sticking a £700 smartphone in your pocket is an increasingly reckless thing to do." Wait, this guy really thinks that users should be expected to know that it's reckless to keep their _phone_ in their pocket, and that they weren't designed for this? That seems not right. I am confident that most people, unless educated otherwise, will assume that phones are designed to go in pockets. If manufacturers really aren't designing phones to go in pockets, they are going to have to educate users on this. The pocket has been the place non-purse-carrying people have kept their phone since the first mobile phone that was small enough to fit in a pocket.

georgemcbay 12y ago
Yeah that quote ("Just casually sticking a £700 smartphone in your pocket is an increasingly reckless thing to do.") and its blame-shifting to the user is really ridiculous. What the fuck are you supposed to do with it, keep it in a safe at home? Analyst bias aside, I've seen many, many similar posts on the Internet on this issue from many users using similar logic. Apple doesn't have a monopoly on mindless fanboyism but their most ardent fans do tend to (pun intended) bend into more ridiculous positions than most while defending bad design decisions or quality assurance lapses made by the company.
jbrooksuk 12y ago
I have always put phones in my front pockets - not so much my back, unless I'm going for a walk - but it's never been an issue since the first phone I ever had. It's completely ridiculous not to put it in a pocket of some sort. My iPhone 6 is due to be delivered on the 7th Oct, so I'm hoping it's just a faulty batch.
- praseodym 12y ago
  It seems to be only affecting the iPhone 6 Plus though, i.e. the largest model.

rayiner 12y ago

They said the same thing about the iPhone 5 (http://www.cultofmac.com/248603/iphone-5ses-are-bending-in-peoples-pockets); http://www.cultofmac.com/248603/iphone-5ses-are-bending-in-p... Xperia Z1 (http://www.phonearena.com/news/Xperia-Z1-frame-bending-for-no-reason-claim-users_id51383); http://www.phonearena.com/news/Xperia-Z1-frame-bending-for-n... Nexus 5 (http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-5/387390-nexus-5-wobbly-bent.html http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-5/387390-nexus...), and I'm sure many others.

smackfu 12y ago
The iPhone 6+ is thinner and longer than the iPhone 5, so it makes a lot of sense it would be more prone to bending due to physics.
- rayiner 12y ago
  The point is that these articles come out every time there is a new thin phone, but then you never hear about it again because it doesn't happen to any substantial portion of buyers.

adriand 12y ago

I love Apple (I've got an iPhone 5, an iPad 3, a Macbook and an iMac) but it always dismays me how Apple fans often respond to any issue with an Apple product with "it's your fault". A guy on MacRumors posted up about his experience with a bent phone and received some supportive comments, but also gems like, "It's aluminum, it's a noticeably longer device and as such it is likely to be bent more easily than previous iPhones. You should expect that it would be easier to bend and act accordingly." How is this reasonable? We should know better than to put the phone in our pockets? I sincerely hope Apple does the right thing here and takes responsibility if in fact this turns out to be a legitimate and widespread problem.

martiuk 12y ago
People like to defend their purchases, especially their $700 ones.

27182818284 12y ago

I played with the 6+ for the first time last night, and it surprises me people even sit down with it. It seems like like it would be immediately awkward from its size.

blisterpeanuts 12y ago

A few ideas about this problem: 1. Consumer behavior factors - Get a case. These devices will break if dropped, and when you are carrying it in your hand many times a day, it is highly likely to be dropped. It's a matter of "when", not "if". - Don't carry the device in pants pockets. Carry it in a shirt pocket, or in a bag or satchel or hang it on your belt. Solved. 2. Manufacturing and marketing factors - Distribute 5,000 beta devices and really field test them. Manufacturers, especially Apple, hate to do this because it reveals the secret design in advance of the dramatic release event. But field testing the devices makes more sense given their complexity and unknown uses and conditions to which they will be subjected. - Make the devices thicker and sturdier. Many of us would not complain about an extra millimeter or two of thickness, especially if it means a bigger battery and some nice-to-haves such as a memory card slot. Thinness is costly, too. Make it an indestructible brick, charge less, and millions will continue to buy the devices. - An alternative view: yield to bendiness! Make the displays bendy, make the cases flexible, and accept that customers want to abuse their phones by sitting on them in tight jeans.

smackfu 12y ago
Seems like a case would only help if it was made of metal.
- Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
  If a metal phone is bending why couldn't a metal case? It's not the material, it's the construction. The case could be made of plastic so long as it had something along the long sides preventing it flexing.
  - smackfu 12y ago
    True. I should have said that a case will only help if it's structural. Most of them are not.
kumarm 12y ago
>>Get a case. If getting case is a Must, why even worry about slim and beautiful devices? So much for good Industrial Design.

paromi 12y ago

I have one of the slimmest android devices huawei p6 (6.2 mm vs 7.1 mm for iphone 6 plus) for a year and a half and im not having any issues with it bending or giving the feeling that its fragile. http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_p6-5467.php http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_p6-5467.php

smackfu 12y ago
Is the back plate on that metal or plastic? It's the metal back that is bending and then staying bent, while plastic will bend and then return back.

jojofanboy 12y ago

There is a lot of fanboys out there still defending Apple with ridiculous arguments. Being a consumer, for me, this is unacceptable. Paying 800 to 900€ for a phone that has the quality of a sub 100€ phone is simply taunting the actual Apple costumers. Mark my words. This will be the major flop remembered in the future for the start of the downfall of this brand. This will make history. The excessively low production costs with these devices made in China with low quality standards and low QA at an excessively price range for the end consumer. The profit margin in this phone has to be huge and will serve as an example in the future in how a major international manufacturing fiasco is made of. This is truly amazing.

steanne 12y ago

apple has specifically advertised the iphone as fitting in a pocket. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxtyxCAxGNE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxtyxCAxGNE