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Iphone Cellphones Apple

Users Report Warping of Apple's iPhone 6 Plus 421

Posted by Soulskill from the apple-releases-first-warp-capable-phones dept.
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.

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Users Report Warping of Apple's iPhone 6 Plus More

Users Report Warping of Apple's iPhone 6 Plus

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  • is that an iPhone in your pocket? (Score:3)

    by turkeydance ( 1266624 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:16AM (#47982257)
    (punch line)

  • Let me guess... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:18AM (#47982265)

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

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by hsmith ( 818216 )
        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.

        • 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.

          If the fabric of my pants is stronger than my phone, then something is wrong, either with the phone or my pants.

    • This is just an other attempt to get a free Case out of the deal.

  • No problem with Nokia 1320 phone in my Lederhosen (Score:2, Insightful)

    by 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 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:23AM (#47982305) Journal

    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 (Score:4, Informative)

      by JWW ( 79176 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:33AM (#47982385)

      Here's a fix:

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

    • 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 (Score:4, Informative)

        by hawguy ( 1600213 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @10:37AM (#47983485)

        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.

    • Have faith in Father Steve, my brother, and all will be made well. For he is the reasonably-priced light! This is but a test of faith.

    • Re:Third option (Score:5, Interesting)

      by plover ( 150551 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @09:11AM (#47982665) Homepage Journal

      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.

  • The Reality Distortion Field is leaking out (Score:5, Funny)

    by enjar ( 249223 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:23AM (#47982311) Homepage

    Better get that checked out at the Apple Store!

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:25AM (#47982319)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Not just iPhone (Score:5, Informative)

      by rezme ( 1677208 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:28AM (#47982353)
      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 (Score:5, Funny)

        by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:52AM (#47982527)

        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 (Score:5, Informative)

        by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:54AM (#47982543) Journal

        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.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • If you look at where it bends, it's pretty clear they don't even need to do that - they could probably get away with simply milling the aluminum thicker around the areas where there are cut outs for the buttons, which are acting as stress concentrators. Plug the whole thing into a simulator and tweak until those areas don't exceed the tensile strength of the region.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by rezme ( 1677208 )
          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 amoun
        • I have a Lumia 1520, with a 6" screen. It fits in my pocket. I can walk around, sit in my car, sit at my desk, you name it. The phone doesn't break or warp.

        • Re:Not just iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Nemyst ( 1383049 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @10:10AM (#47983227) Homepage
          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: (Score:2, Informative)

        by 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 particula

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by 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

      • Agreed. My Lumia's poly-carbonate bodies have always been a blessing in that area. Sure, not quite as "flash" but far more resilient.
    • The claim of that article is that other metal phones are prone to bending. Perhaps the solution is to not make metal phones.

      • I wonder if this actually explains Samsung's resistance to making a metal phone. There's been a lot of commentary of how they just don't do it with their flagships, and the bending issue is the type of thing which your engineers would tell you in testing and simulation.

        Breaking the glass is one thing, but that's always been a risk, but bending the case without damaging the glass is quite another and yeah - a ton of plastics would have much better performance then metal in this regard.

        Regardless, it seems li

    • Re:Not just iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Sockatume ( 732728 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:37AM (#47982415)

      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: (Score:3, Funny)

      by ganjadude ( 952775 )
      you're holding it wrong

    • 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 stre

  • They're holding it wrong obviously.

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

  • Don't worry (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:26AM (#47982337)

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

  • Curved Phones (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dr. Evil ( 3501 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:30AM (#47982365)

    Samsung needs to sue them for this innovation.

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

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kyrsjo ( 2420192 )

      But seriously, the blended edges do look a lot like my Samsung (which does not bend). Given that Apple had a case with "rectangle with rounded corners", Samsung may have a case with "thin rectangle with blended edges".

      • Re:Curved Phones (Score:4, Informative)

        by Dr. Evil ( 3501 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @10:25AM (#47983375)

        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.


  • ...concerned about the angle of that guy's thumb?

    All things considered I could bend most so called smartphones these days but why would you bend your brand new phone? -some people are weird.

  • Headline reads... (Score:5, Funny)

    by drfishy ( 634081 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:32AM (#47982377)
    Apple's race for thinner phones bites users in the ass.
  • 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... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pushing-robot ( 1037830 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:37AM (#47982413)

    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... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by rwise2112 ( 648849 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:46AM (#47982485)

      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 (Score:3)

    by kannibal_klown ( 531544 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @08:45AM (#47982475)

    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.

  • Typical Engineering mistake (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Charliemopps ( 1157495 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @09:01AM (#47982595)

    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 (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Sockatume ( 732728 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @09:55AM (#47983061)

      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 (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Overzeetop ( 214511 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @10:53AM (#47983621) Journal

      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 (Score:5, Funny)

    by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @09:02AM (#47982617)
    For a commercial where he bends an iPhone 6+. Now that would be funny.
  • Aluminium is a terrible material to make a phone from and I bet Apple have milled it to within an inch of its life. Maybe it doesn't matter so much for a smaller device but these phablets are so big that they are going to suffer increased leverage and bend forces. Perhaps it would have been better to use plastic over a steel frame like most other phones. It might not look so good but it would probably be stiffer and more resistant.

  • good luck with that (Score:5, Insightful)

    by slashmydots ( 2189826 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @09:19AM (#47982739)
    "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?

  • Right now this may just be some random blog from someone careless that has been over publicised. As others have pointed out there are photos of other phones which have bent too, but it's hardly a widely reported problem.

    Now it could very well be that the iPhone 6 has a design flaw, and we could see Tim Cook attempt to revive the reality distortion field of yesteryears by jumping up on stage and bending a Samsung and saying "see all phones do this" (see the you're holding it wrong debacle).

    Or it could be not

  • The more important question is how the hell are people getting that in their front pocket? What kind of pants are you people wearing?

  • Had they remembered their high school physics, they'd have known that the ideal phone would be homogeneous, friction-less and spherical.

  • make something as thin as possible, and then users stick it in their back pocket, sit on it, and wonder why it bends.. :-p

  • Skinny Jeans (Score:5, Funny)

    by CodeArtisan ( 795142 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2014 @09:55AM (#47983067)
    It only bends in the front pocket of hipsters' skinny jeans. So pretty much 100% of users, then.
  • New incentive to buy rigid cases. Time to go buy Otterbox stock!

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