UK firm SquareTrade, which recently issued this report testing the strength of Apple’s latest iPhones against their competitors, has called on its mettle-testing robots once again to confirm reports of the iPhone 6 Plus bending.
In what is now being dubbed ‘bendgate’, some iPhone 6 Plus owners are claiming to witness their phones ‘bend’ in front pockets when seated for long periods of time.
Reports first surfaced on the MacRumors website and numerous other blogs have claimed that Apple’s new iPhone 6 Plus is ‘bending’ in users’ pockets.
SquareTrade’s first iPhone 6 tests found that the iPhone 6 Plus was more robust than a Samsung Galaxy S5, receiving a score of 5. The Galaxy S5 got a 6.5.
The test, carried out by robots that assess mobile phones on their size, weight, panel strength, and drop endurance, gives marks out of 10 on a ‘breakability index’, with a score of 10 signifying the highest risk.
SquareTrade said: "We’ve seen the reports in the last 24 hours of bendability and we’re keeping a very close eye on customer feedback. A "bendability test" hasn’t been part of our breakability testing to date because up until this week we’ve never seen a phone thin enough to make this a potential issue.
"We’ve seen the volume of reports of bending today and the clear interest in the subject. Because we’re flexible, we’re carrying out a further test later today to investigate how much of an issue this might be for users. It’s important to stress that this won’t have any comparative data. It’ll be a view based on one phone – no bend, no bias, no warp – just SquareTrade’s opinion on how much of an issue this might be."
Apple has yet to respond to the incidents, but that hasn’t stopped competitors jumping in to mock the firm. Chocolate teabreak advocates KitKat posted this Tweet yesterday:
Some experts have suggested it is the combination of a large screen and lightweight aluminium casing which is causing the phones to bend so easily.
