The bigger screens but thinner bodies of Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models have come at the cost of rigidity, according to owners who say they bent while being carried in trouser pockets.
A number of users across various forums, sites and Twitter have reported – and pictured – that their phones have become warped after they sat or bent down with them in front and rear trouser pockets.
The reports come just after an insurance company claimed that the new iPhones are the most robust ever – though its tests didn’t include bending.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus chassis is milled from a solid piece of aluminium alloy whose composition is secret. The weak area of the phone appears to be around the volume buttons, where the frame is at its thinnest and creates a fulcrum point around which the phone bends. Surprisingly, the screen does not break when the phone bends – though it does if the phone is then bent back to a flat profile.
Apple is not the first to have the problem of a large-screened metal-framed smartphone bending under use. Sony’s Xperia Z1, which had a 5in screen and a metal frame, saw users complaining that they bent in pockets, while Samsung Galaxy S4 users had similar complaints, as didBlackBerry Q10 users.
The exact number of iPhone 6 users affected is unknown. The Guardian found dozens of people on Twitter whose iPhone 6 or 6 Plus had bent – though there are also hundreds more echoing news reports and the pictures put up by those who have been affected.
Oups, l'iPhone 6 se déforme dans la poche !http://t.co/szFfovaHB7 pic.twitter.com/Zru9uozhMU— Florian Paulmier (@FlorianP123) September 23, 2014
The iPhone 6 Could Bend In Your Pocket… !! haha.. love u APPLE pic.twitter.com/MJV2s5kT1a— Nelson Cardoz (@nelsoncardoz) September 23, 2014
Testing by Unbox Therapy showed that the iPhone 6 Plus can be bent by applying substantial force by hand.
The amount of force required to bend the smartphone is unlikely to be repeated in all but the skinniest of trousers. Before conducting the test, Lewis Hilsenteger from Unbox Therapy said his 6 Plus showed signs of being bent simply from being in his trouser pocket.
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