iPhone 6 Bendgate

Overview

The iPhone 6 Bendgate refers to the widespread online rumor about a potential durability issue surrounding Apple‘s sixth-generation smartphone after several users reported that their devices were bent within days of purchase, presumably due to its slim design. The rumor was instantly picked up by many gadget reviewers and tech bloggers, as well as Internet comedians and critics of iPhones who jumped in on the opportunity to mock Apple’s botched launch of what is quite possibly the most highly anticipated smartphone product of 2014.

Background

On September 21st, only days after the release of the iPhone6, Macrumors Forum^[1] user hanzoh published a new thread titled “iPhone 6 Plus slightly bent after 2 days” describing a potential durability issue with Apple’s latest device:

“I received my iPhone 6 Plus 64GB spacegray at about 3pm on Friday and set it up, but haven’t worn it out that day, so it wasn’t in my pocket.

Yesterday, I left at 10am with the iPhone in my left FRONT pocket of my suit pants. I drove 4 hours to a wedding, which also involved a lot of sitting during dinner etc but also 2-3 hours of dancing. I left at 2am and went to bed, driving home 4 hours back.

So in total, the 6 Plus was about 18 hours in my pocket while sitting mostly.

As I lay it on the coffee table and sat down on the couch to relax from the drive (yes, sitting again ), I saw the reflection of the window in the iPhones slightly distorted. Now I lay it flat with the display side on the table, take a look."

That same day, Twitter user Wario64^[2] tweeted out a link to the Macrumors forum thread, to which Twitter user SeanPincombe^[3] responded by introducing the Twitter hashtag #bendgate. Within a week, the hashtag was tweeted^[4] out over 37,000 times.

Notable Developments

Media Coverage

On September 23rd, The Daily Dot^[5] published an article titled “Apple fans’ tight pants are bending the iPhone 6 Plus,” which highlighted several tweets diagnosing the issue as a byproduct of sporting skinny jeans and tight pants, while the gadget unboxing and review series Unbox Therapy uploaded a video testing the durability of iPhone 6 Plus (shown below). In less than 24 hours, the video garnered more than 7.4 million views. On the following day, the hashtag and problem were covered by Mashable^[6] and Newsday.^[7]

On September 25th, Mashable^[10] published a list titled “16 Things That Bend More Than the iPhone 6 Plus.”

Parody Ads

Several brands tweeted photos which poked fun at #bendgate, either highlighting their ability to bend or their resilience against it, including Kit Kat, Heineken and Pringles.

Apple’s Statement

On September 25th, Apple issued an official statement^[9] to the Huffington Post^[8] explaining that an iPhone 6 bending is unlikely, saying:

“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."