Over the past couple of days, reports surfaced claiming that the iPhone 6 Plus was getting bent while kept in their owner’s pocket. The issue, dubbed bend gate, blew up into a controversy, and Apple today officially responded to the issue in a statement.
Apple PR says that the bending issue is very rare during normal use, and that till now only 9 customers have complained about their iPhone 6 Plus being bent. The company adds that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus “met or exceeded testing for strength and durability” thanks to steel/titanium inserts that reinforce stress locations.
Here’s Apple’s full statement:
Our iPhones are designed, engineered and manufactured to be both beautiful and sturdy. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus feature a precision engineered unibody enclosure constructed from machining a custom grade of 6000 series anodized aluminum, which is tempered for extra strength. They also feature stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high stress locations and use the strongest glass in the smartphone industry. We chose these high-quality materials and construction very carefully for their strength and durability. We also perform rigorous tests throughout the entire development cycle including 3-point bending, pressure point cycling, sit, torsion, and user studies. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus meet or exceed all of our high quality standards to endure everyday, real life use.
With normal use a bend in iPhone is extremely rare and through our first six days of sale, a total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus. As with any Apple product, if you have questions please contact Apple.
Apple has instructed its support employees to replace bent iPhones once they passed ‘Visual Mechanical Inspection’ (obviously people who bent their iPhones on purpose will not qualify for a free replacement).
Apple starts selling the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in its retail stores beginning September 19 at 8 AM local time, and in carrier partner stores plus authorized resellers. Launch countries this time around include the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. The following week, on September 26, Apple will open up sales to 20 additional countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
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