Internal Documents Show Apple Knew the iPhone 6 Would Bend (vice.com)

In 2014, multiple users reported that their iPhone 6 and 6 Plus handsets were bending under pressure, such as when they were kept in a pocket. As a byproduct of this issue, the touchscreen's internal hardware was also susceptible to losing its connection to the phone's logic board. It turns out, Apple was aware that this could happen. Motherboard: Apple's internal tests found that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are significantly more likely to bend than the iPhone 5S, according to information made public in a recent court filing obtained by Motherboard. Publicly, Apple has never said that the phones have a bending problem, and maintains that position, despite these models commonly being plagued with "touch disease," a flaw that causes the touchscreen to work intermittently that the repair community say is a result of bending associated with normal use. The information is contained in internal Apple documents filed under seal in a class-action lawsuit that alleges Apple misled customers about touch disease. The documents remain under seal, but US District Court judge Lucy Koh made some of the information from them public in a recent opinion in the case. The company found that the iPhone 6 is 3.3 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, and the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.2 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, according to the documents. Koh wrote that "one of the major concerns Apple identified prior to launching the iPhones was that they were 'likely to bend more easily when compared to previous generations.'"

Comments

What's this "Thin Smartphone" shtick anyway?

[Qbertino]

I don't get it. The pinnacle of this nonsense was the newer Moto Z. What is this bullshit? Give me a friggin Phone that doesn't feel like I'm holding a thin small slice of plywood with some fragile crystal glued on. And Oooph the battery while your at it. Point in case: I added a UAG case to my Moto G5 and it finally feels like a phone and not some piece of junk from a vending machine that will break when I sneeze at it. How awesome would it be if that extra heft would be like +2000mAmps of power. ... OnePlus, Nokia, Motorola ... all are into this nonsense. I seriously don't get it.

There definitely is a market for solid phones the thickness of the iPhone SE or thicker that have a solid battery and a case that doesn't fall apart. Or bend.
If I had the resoures I'd build it.

My 2 cents.