Users Report Warping of Apple's iPhone 6 Plus

MojoKid writes: Apple's iPhone 6 Plus weighs six ounces, and it's a scant 7.1mm thick. As an added bonus, according to a number of users, it has a hidden feature — it bends! And no, we don't mean it bends in a "Hey, what an awesome feature!" sort of way. More like a "Hey, the entire phone is near to snapping" kind of way. What's even more troubling is that many of the users who are reporting bent devices also claim that they were carrying it in front pockets or in a normal fashion as opposed to sitting on it directly. Either some of the iPhone 6 Plus hardware is defective (the vastly preferable option) or it's because the tests run by other venues are putting different kinds of stress on the chassis. It's not clear what the story is. Hopefully Apple will clarify it soon.

Comments

is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[turkeydance]

(punch line)

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[pushing-robot]

I hate it when my Schwartz gets all twisted.

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're bending it wrong

Re: is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[jd2112]

Obviously the iPhone was designed by men because the 6+ is only 5.5 inches...

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[Anonymous Coward]

No he means Schwartz. Google: Spaceballs. And may the Schwartz be with you.

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[msauve]

It's obviously their new, patented, "bend to unlock" feature.

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[Plumpaquatsch]

Or any other phone made of metal?

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[OakDragon]

Bend different.

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[TWX]

...may the Schwartz be with you.

And also with you.

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[TWX]

I find it curious in their examples, that four of the nine devices susceptible to bending are Apples, and one of the five non-Apple examples involved the device being smashed while sitting on its docking station. If one eliminates that specific outlier and focuses on phones that bend while in their users' pockets, then the iPhone line is a solid half of all types reported in their article.

Re:is that an iPhone in your pocket?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's obviously their new, patented, "bend to unlock" feature.

You can just microwave it to get rid of any bends.

Let me guess...

[Anonymous Coward]

They weren't holding it in the pockets of certified apple jeans!
WTF do they expect.

Re:Let me guess...

[DigiShaman]

You're storing it wrong!

Re:Let me guess...

[hsmith]

You are probably more right than you realize. If the phone is parallel to your leg it won't bend. If it rests non-parallel against your thigh and you sit down, the fabric of your clothes will stretch it around your thigh, thus bending it.

Re:Let me guess...

[DigiShaman]

Actually, it could be the pants (and poor judgement of storing the phone). Many designer jeans are already tight round the thigh and buttocks. Typically these jeans have shallow front pockets; thus the phone the phone doesn't travel deep enough to run parallel with the leg. In that situation, the end of the phone would be pressing against your hip when sitting down. It would be uncomfortable. Sitting on the phone in the back pocket will surely bend it regardless of what pants you're wearing however.

No problem with Nokia 1320 phone in my Lederhosen

[Anonymous Coward]

that device has a 6 inch screen, but the case is all plastic. It would simply break at some point,
but otherwise it is much more tolerant towards bending forces.

Afterwards the phone will be subjected to a vomit test on the Oktoberfest.

Cheers.

Third option

[smooth wombat]

Because a large portions of Americans are obese, having the iPhone in such cramped conditions under extreme pressure for extended periods of time is causing the issue.

Not sure what the solution is but I'm sure Apple will have a fix out in no time.

Re:Third option

[JWW]

Here's a fix:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M0...

Re:Third option

[stealth_finger]

Yeah I'm sure they'll be able to patch in more structural integrity. I guess in the quest for thinness they forgot about strength.

Re:Third option

[jez9999]

Hilarious. So people pay way over-the-odds for an Apple phone because it's so thin it could look like a credit card, only to cover it with a thick wrapper because the damn thing's too thin.

Re:Third option

[plover]

Not sure what the solution is but I'm sure Apple will have a fix out in no time.

I doubt that very much. I doubt they'll even acknowledge it.

If they say "oh, yeah, sorry, our phones bend", what can they do about it? They don't have a solution coming out of the factories. Since the problem is mechanical with the case and chassis being too thin to ever be reliably durable, that could mean a complete redesign of just about every component, including the circuit boards, glass, buttons, everything. (Although they might be able to replace the current aluminum chassis with titanium. That could make the phones strong enough, but way more expensive.) Next, they'll have to ramp up production of the new model and get a few million into the pipeline. That could take a year. Meanwhile, do you think they are going to pull the current phones off the shelves, so they have less to replace?

No, I would bet that the lawyers are advising them to silently let this go forever, hoping the bending problem doesn't catch on in the mainstream media, or picked up by the late night comedians. They'll wait for it to blow over like they did with the antenna problems on the iPhone 4, because ultimately that proved to be nothing to them.

Look to them to remain silent right up until some unlucky people bend them in the "wrong way" causing a short, burns, and or fires. That's when there will be a shitstorm of a recall.

Re:Third option

[DigiShaman]

Instead of titanium, I wonder if carbon fiber would be a better alternative.

IANAMS (I'm not a material scientist)

Re:Third option

[OzPeter]

No, I would bet that the lawyers are advising them to silently let this go forever, hoping the bending problem doesn't catch on in the mainstream media, or picked up by the late night comedians. They'll wait for it to blow over like they did with the antenna problems on the iPhone 4, because ultimately that proved to be nothing to them.

The iPhone 6 - Apples version of a Ford Pinto

Re:Third option

[Ash-Fox]

what can they do about it?

They could release an iOS update that prevents bending. They already released iOS updates for fast recharging via microwave and waterproofing support.

Re:Third option

[Monoman]

Titanium will bend but has better memory to return to the original shape. Carbon fiber should be stiffer to resist the flexing in the first place.

Re:Third option

[mrchaotica]

It's (mostly) not the material, it's the geometry. The bending modulus of any material depends on the cube of its thickness. Making something both thin and rigid is disproportionately hard, no matter what material you make it out of.

Re:Third option

[swamp boy]

Kindly do not attempt to cloud the issue with facts.

Re:Third option

[hawguy]

Yeah I'm sure they'll be able to patch in more structural integrity. I guess in the quest for thinness they forgot about strength.

They can't, don't be stupid. If they apply a patch to increase the structural integrity field, that will negatively affect the battery life or they would have turned it up in the first place. Those force fields really eat into the battery life. The Apple Reality Distortion field is bad enough.

Re:Third option

[tsa]

So if they had made the back so thick that the camera didn't stick out everything would have been OK.

Re:Third option

[mrchaotica]

On the contrary, if you try to bend a sword along the flat side of its blade (the weak axis) it'll flex easily. As an example, the fancy sword in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon visibly vibrated just from being swung around in the air.

Now, if you apply force to it on edge -- such as by using it to cut something -- then it will be very stiff, but that's because it's also very thick along that axis.

Re:Third option

[MillionthMonkey]

There are lines of people at Apple stores hoping for a better reality or at least an improved reality coprocessor.

Re: Third option

[jackspenn]

Spot on commentary.

You are saying what many Android users are saying around the virtual water cooler ... aka Google hangouts.

"So how the hell did Apple release a phone with the camera sticking out the back, especially when increasing the thickness would have allowed for bigger battery and stronger case?"

The Reality Distortion Field is leaking out

[enjar]

Better get that checked out at the Apple Store!

Not just iPhone

[SternisheFan]

Other phones are prone to bending also... http://www.cultofmac.com/29740...

Perhaps Apple had planned to have the stronger SapphireGlass for their large phones, which would have mitigated this problem. But to release a high end phone with this obvious engineering deficiency is like a smack in the face to loyal Apple consumers.

Re:Not just iPhone

[rezme]

Other phones bend, but the issue here is that with the iphone's metal case, it doesn't bend back. Plastic, unless subjected to extreme amounts of stress, tends to return to its original shape. Aluminum not so much. The problem isn't the glass, as the phones I've seen bent have glass that is still intact (strangely enough), but rather the metal chassis that Apple has always been so proud of.

Re:Not just iPhone

[king neckbeard]

The claim of that article is that other metal phones are prone to bending. Perhaps the solution is to not make metal phones.

Re:Not just iPhone

[Sockatume]

Sapphire glass wouldn't have solved the issue - by the time it was thick enough to make an appreciable difference to the phone's mechanical performance, the screen would look pretty dim. Steel would've helped (there's a reason the iPhone 4 is made out of it) but would've increased the weight markedly (there's a reason the iPhone 6 isn't made out of it). It's a difficult engineering trade-off when you're selling what amounts to a thin aluminium sheet with a cover glass on it, and I'm honestly surprised it took so long for people to notice.

I'm going to sit here smugly with my steel-bodied phone crammed into my jeans, safe in the knowledge that while it might make sushi of my legs if I sit wrong, it's not going to deform on me.

Re:Not just iPhone

[ganjadude]

you're holding it wrong

Re:Not just iPhone

[OzPeter]

Plastic, unless subjected to extreme amounts of stress, tends to return to its original shape. Aluminum not so much.

That's why they should have gone with Aluminium instead.

I know, I know .. Apple was trying to be hip and trendy in its minimalist way by leaving out what it thought was a superfluous vowel [1], but in this case it crossed the line and ended up leaving out an important structural element. This would never have happened at Microsoft, where all products have to be engineered to survive being thrown at brick walls (for the well noted use case of not meeting users expectations).

[1] Perhaps Bono might have been better utilised for his English rather than musical skills?

Re:Not just iPhone

[Dan East]

Did you even look at the URL in the OP? It shows several phones that are permanently bent - some plastic, some metal. It shows plastic phones, like the Galaxy, with a cracked display from where it was bent, plastic phones that are permanently bent (BlackBerry Q10, Oppo) as well as other phones with metal frames like the Sony Xperia Z1 and HTC EVO. It also shows various other older models of iPhones that are bent.

No phone is immune to this, and just because it's plastic and kind of "bends back" does not mean the screen or plastic won't crack, etc.

I'll tell you exactly what this is about. Millions of existing iPhone users now have a larger phone in their pocket, and because the previous models were smaller, they were just under the bending threshold (due to the weight of the person, size of pockets, whatever) and they didn't have a problem. Now with the larger phones there is more leverage to exert more force (plus being thinner might make them weaker as well), and suddenly the bigger phones can't handle the stresses that the smaller phones could handle. If these people were to stick a Samsung S5 in their back pocket bad things would happen too (and it just so happens that the older, smaller iPhones were tough enough to handle that).

Is the iPhone 6 as tough as the smaller previous generations of iPhone? Almost certainly not. Is it as tough as other phones the same size like the Samsung Galaxy? Probably so.

Re:Not just iPhone

[thegarbz]

Well every phone will do something if you treat it a certain way. The question is just how wide spread the "problem" is. In the video the guy looks like he's putting quite a lot of stress on the phone, yet others are reporting that it bent just sitting in their front pocket (unlikely). The same problem can be said about cracked screens. I keep hearing from people how fragile the screens are in various phones including the model I own. Some people say the screen cracked in their front pocket without any stress, in the meantime I abused my phone like no phone ever should be and despite dents and scratches and bits of plastic falling off the screen is still perfect.

So the question is, is this some isolated issue from a few vocal people which got publicised (I never heard of other phones bending before this, but now people are coming out of the woodworks), or is the iPhone 6 really that much more fragile. The debate reminds me of the "you're holding it wrong scandal" where people were claiming it wasn't a real problem and that any phone's signal drops when you hold it.

I guess time will tell.

Re:Not just iPhone

[OzPeter]

Sorry, but your spelling is just stupid and arbitrary unless you apply the "ium" suffix to ALL elements.

Do you mean things like: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium?

Also the spelling of "aluminum" predates the spelling of "aluminium", so the former is proper.

The official chemical name IS Aluminium with Aluminum being an alternate spelling. But if you are being pedantic, then alumium predates both.

Re:Not just iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

Not quite right, you (and many others, apparently) seem to be confusing stress and strain, or at the least assuming they are related. Plastic tends to be able to withstand a large amount of strain before the onsite of plastic deformation but this varies wildly based on the particular plastic (see http://www.plasticsintl.com/sortable_materials.php?display=mechanical), while aluminum withstands about 16% elongation before failure. The tensile yield stress of plastic is also highly dependent on the particular compound but, for example for polyethylene it is about 24 MPa (Wolfram|Alpha), compared to about 55 MPa for a 6061T4 aluminum (Wikipedia).

Stress is (roughly) the amount of load per area in a specimen, strain is the change in length (often due to an applied load) divided by the original length; these properties are independent in general. For example, think of a rubber band an piece of steel of the same dimension - when you pull on the rubber band it would clearly deform elastically, but when you pull (with the same force) on the steel much less deformation occurs (so little it may not be visually apparent). Both have the same stress (same cross section, and same area), but completely different strain.

Re:Not just iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

The Note3 of equal size has a flimsy plastic removable back held on with small plastic tabs, a large open battery cavity with a relatively loose fitting battery and even hole down in the structure with memory card holder and slot. The Note3 is built like an open box and the iPhone is close to a cube. That cube closed design alone should make the iPhone MANY times more rigid and stronger but yet... Man, imagine if the iphone actually had a non structural removable back and and an accessible battery cavity how weak it would be.

You can use a car analogy and compare how rigid a convertible is to a car with a rigid roof or you can just play with a cardboard box with the top taped shut and with the top open and see the difference in its flex and strength.

Re:Not just iPhone

[rezme]

Yes, I looked at the URL. The key difference here is that the phones of other models that were reported bending were largely "I sat on it" type scenarios (including one asshole who sat on his while it was in a cupholder), while many of the reports I've seen of the iphone 6 have often been in the front pocket. Sure, there were others that said "it spontaneously bent itself" but I'm betting those are "I sat on it, but I really don't want to say that". Yes, all phones bend, and as I qualified if large amounts of stress (or strain as Captain Pedantic in another response would have it) is applied, then they will break and stay that way. My point is that plastic tends to be a more forgiving medium for that kind of abuse than aluminum (or aluminium as another pedant stated).

Re:Not just iPhone

[Nemyst]

The guy who made the video linked in TFS made another video of the Note 3, which is of a similar size as the 6+, and not only did he had to push much more strongly, he didn't manage to get it bent.

Now, that's anecdotal evidence, but your list is entirely pointless. Sure, phones will bend if you push hard enough. Tablets would too, and freaking laptops if you put your heart to it. The point here is that none of those other phones, including previous generation iPhones, have had a lot of claims of them bending. They're less likely to bend, largely due to different materials and especially different thickness. That's where I think the problem lies: stop making phones so fucking thin. Give us more battery instead or something.

Re:Not just iPhone

[mark-t]

The official chemical name IS Aluminium with Aluminum being an alternate spelling

Except it's not. You are right about "alumium", however.

Re:Not just iPhone

[Chrisq]

The official chemical name IS Aluminium with Aluminum being an alternate spelling

Except it's not. You are right about "alumium", however.

It is the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) standard international name, though they recognise Aluminum as an alternative.

Re:Not just iPhone

[blueg3]

Do you mean things like: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium?

No, things like molybdenum, tantalum, lanthanum, and platinum.

Also hydrogen, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, silicon, phosphorous, sulfur, chlorine, argon, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, arsenic, bromine, krypton, silver, tin, iodine, xenon, gold, mercury, lead, bismuth, astatine, radon.

In current usage and also in the Latin names for the elements, both -ium and -um are used frequently as endings for metallic elements.

Re:Not just iPhone

[tehcyder]

Aluminium is an anagram of iAluminum. I'm sure this is important.

Re:Not just iPhone

[SternisheFan]

Bah! Nonsense. Ridiculous nonsense.

First, it doesn't cost $800, unless you get it contract free & 64GB, and that's a specific choice you make.

Second, it doesn't get "easily bent". You can bend any phone with enough force. If you're applying the kind of force that will bend a cell phone, then you're being careless and deserve what you get.

You're disaster hyping like Fox News.

1) "Free" - That is the subsidized cost over a 2 year contract, which actually costs more than buying it outright.

2) - Forcibly bending it is stupid to do. Having it in a pocket and it warps out of shape from normal body bending is just poor design. I have expectations that such an expensive device would be strong enough to endure 'normal usage'.

3 - Fox News is well known for creating hype-stories out of nowhere that fit their own agenda, not the case here. I didn't start the fire.

Holding it wrong.

[porksauce]

They're holding it wrong obviously.

If Steve Jobs was still around...

[mordejai]

He would tell the users they are not supposed to put an iPhone 6 Plus in their pockets.

Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Just put it in your microwave for a minute and it will all be fixed!

Re:It is just me or did you read it as it blends?

[Tmackiller]

They still do them; https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Curved Phones

[Dr. Evil]

Samsung needs to sue them for this innovation.

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/316700/samsung-galaxy-round-and-5-other-curved-phones

Re:Curved Phones

[Dr. Evil]

It's a contradiction I guess. A really good design looks obvious.

...and a company which purports to support creativity, and feels so strongly about rounded rectangles that they introduce them as a graphic primitive on early systems (per Isaacson?), sues another company for daring to use rounded rectangles.

I hope they get sued for infringing on Samsung's design. Samsung went out of their way to find a way to make something equally effective, distinct non-obvious but obvious looking. Now Apple seems to think their screen size and aspects of design are obvious.

Headline reads...

[drfishy]

Apple's race for thinner phones bites users in the ass.

probable reason

[Champaklal]

Apple's 6 phones are too bigger than their width -- this bending is caused due to the extra moment experienced by the curvature of thighs. Now, since there is no "vertical" element (if the phone is kept horizontal) to counter this moment duo, the phone bends.

Until we have independent testing...

[pushing-robot]

I'll assume option '3' for the moment:

Out of a sample size of ten million people, chances are very good that some of them will do very stupid things (and then claim they didn't).

Mind you, I'm perfectly willing to accept that the phone has a defect in design or construction, but I've had enough experience in troubleshooting and repair to lose all trust in humanity.

Re:Until we have independent testing...

[rwise2112]

I'll assume option '3' for the moment:

Out of a sample size of ten million people, chances are very good that some of them will do very stupid things (and then claim they didn't).

Mind you, I'm perfectly willing to accept that the phone has a defect in design or construction, but I've had enough experience in troubleshooting and repair to lose all trust in humanity.

It's going to be a big problem for them. These phones have only been out for a day or two, so what will the average Joe's phone look like after a month?

Not Surprised - I bent a 5

[kannibal_klown]

I managed to bend a company iPhone 5 very slightly last year; I don't know when or how. So I'm not surprised something even thinner and completely aluminum can bend.

I have the regular iPhone 6 right now and I tend to be careful with it. I have it in a soft-case for now but I'll probably put it in a more rigid case once a nice one comes out. Supposedly people are still bending the regular 6, but nowhere near as easily as the 6 Plus.

Re: If you sit on a phone with your big fat arse

[NotDrWho]

It was reportedly in the front pocket, not the back. The phone was bent by pressure exerted on it by cloth, apparently!

Well, if they had been wearing their Apple-certified turtlenecks instead of heathen-wear, that would never have happened. Can't blame Apple for weak-faithed users.

Re: If you sit on a phone with your big fat arse

[stevez67]

Yes, because people's fat beer belly's and thighs are not on the other side of the cloth, so it must be the cloth that's bending it.

Typical Engineering mistake

[Charliemopps]

So, from the video you can see it clearly bend around the volume cutouts. Then even mentions that. I suspect it was engineered to survive flexing in that direction... and then later they moved/changed where the volume cutouts would be. If those buttons were on top, this wouldn't be a problem.

Form over function is always a loser.

Re:Typical Engineering mistake

[Sockatume]

1) Why would you put the volume button on the top of the phone?
2) Wouldn't it make more sense that it's bending around the volume cut-outs because they're a big void in the side of the phone? No matter how tough it is, if it's going to yield anywhere, it'll yield there.

Re:Typical Engineering mistake

[Overzeetop]

Indeed, it's simple engineering mechanics. As you get thinner, the case gets weaker by a factor of (thickness ratio)^2. As you make it longer, the internal stresses in the metal go up by (length ratio)^2. Then, to ice the cake, there are cutouts which form stress concentrations which will be 1.5-3x the predicted strength if you don't account for the amplification due to shear flow around the opening (though I suspect there are internal bosses to mitigate this).

The solution, of course, is not to compromise the perimeter at all and put the buttons in the center of the back of the case. But if they did that, it wouldn't be innovated enough I guess. Maybe we'll get that in the iPhone 8 and it will be innovative by then.

Samsung should hire Uri Geller

[JoeyRox]

For a commercial where he bends an iPhone 6+. Now that would be funny.

Re:Apple's response

[Sockatume]

"Don't hold it that way" was actually Apple's official stance. They even put up a series of videos on the Apple site showing other brands' "dead spots", which lasted about as long as you could expect in this corporate climate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
http://www.engadget.com/2010/0...

good luck with that

[slashmydots]

"Hopefully Apple will clarify it soon."
Oh you cannot be serious. Who wrote that? They haven't admitted anything EVER when it comes to defects. You're holding the antenna wrong. You're lighting the camera wrong. You're downloading iOS7 wrong. You're driving down an airport runway because we said it was a road wrong.
This is such a classic example of Apple's new style of function design style, which actually isn't all that new. Remember the 1980's Apple that overheated constantly because Steve Jobs didn't like fans? Remember the 2008 Apple that overheated constantly because Steve Jobs didn't like fans?

Re:good luck with that

[ArcadeMan]

Steve Jobs didn't hate fans at all, without them he would never have been able to sell so many products.

Think Bent?

[Thud457]

Apple : Get Bent

Re:front pocket?

[Thanshin]

Your pants have no front pockets?

Are you in a prison, mental facility or beach?

Skinny Jeans

[CodeArtisan]

It only bends in the front pocket of hipsters' skinny jeans. So pretty much 100% of users, then.

Re:Too late ...

[krakelohm]

If there is anyone who I not want to talk about vibrators it's Whoopie and her crew.

Re: If you sit on a phone with your big fat arse

[plover]

Ordinary cotton denim is plenty strong enough to do this. Testing a much smaller sample than a pants leg (two 1" square gripping pads separated by 3" of fabric) showed that ordinary denim can withstand over 800 Newtons (176 pounds) before breaking. http://www.itc.polyu.edu.hk/Us... A piece of fabric the size of a phone, being pulled on by the force of the leg, is going to be able to easily transfer the weight of a human into a force that can pull the phone around their leg. Given the video showed a guy bending a phone by pressing with his thumbs, a pants leg could easily apply as much force.