The mild level of hysteria over this has been interesting. It's a slab of thin aluminium that has a large surface area, a consistent amount of pressure is going to cause bending. I'm personally surprised that the glass didn't crack on some of the pictures.
True, but I would assume that most people have a reasonable expectation that their phones will not get damaged in typical usage scenarios. And yes, I do think that putting your phone in your front pocket is typical. In my view that means that there is a design flaw.
This. I've had several smartphone devices over the years and not one has been bent in my pocket, even when I sit on it. I don't expect it to happen, even on a premium device.
Assuming accuracy of reports, etc. But, yes, if it's relatively easy to bend a phone even slightly by putting it in a normal (for reasonable tightness values of normal) front pocket, that's questionable. Though--I would add--not because as many regurgitated articles suggest because Aluminum is a "soft, bendable metal" or because the heat in one's pocket softens the metal.
> I do think that putting your phone in your front pocket is typical
Correct. And for, hm, probably 99.98% of the 10m iPhone 6 users created over the weekend, that isn't an issue.
You're drawing a misleading comparison between putting your iPhone in your pocket and it becoming bent out of shape. What happens when you put your phone in your pocket is crucial: exerting sufficient pressure to bend (as opposed to flex) the phone.
This is a problem with any object of similar proportions and rigidity when sufficient pressure is applied.
If you compare the 6 plus to the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and even the 6, it doesn't seem as if any of those phones have a problem. In or outside the pocket.
Of course with enough pressure anything will bend or break, but consumers expect that with 'reasonable use' they can expect their device not to malform. And surprise, reasonable use for most people (particularly men) includes putting their phone in their pocket at least some of the time instead of in their bag/purse ALL of the time. That's a design flaw. Either change your material (not majority aluminium), or really change your communication (push it as a tablet or a phone for in your bag) and warn of the risks. Don't just push it like an ordinary larger phone and stay silent when people say it bends in their pocket days after release, and when people bend it with their fingers on camera. I don't see how people can deny this is an issue.
Obviously it's not a problem of people using their phone in an insane manner, as we simply didn't see similar bending problems with every iphone release before.
> Of course with enough pressure anything will bend or break, but consumers expect that with 'reasonable use' they can expect their device not to malform.
I'd say that if you're applying enough pressure to bend a slab of aluminium and glass, you're A) someone who should have to have a licence in order to safely operate it without injuring yourself and B) definitely using it outside of its intended usage.
> And surprise, reasonable use for most people (particularly men) includes putting their phone in their pocket at least some of the time instead of in their bag/purse ALL of the time. That's a design flaw.
No. You're misrepresenting the problem entirely. The problem is not "putting the phone in your pocket" as you state. The problem is putting your phone in your pocket and then applying enough pressure to the device to bend it, whether intentionally or not. If putting the phone in your pocket caused this, EVERYONE would experience it, and it would truly be a design flaw. As it is, a tiny minority of people have put the phone in their pocket, applied a huge amount of pressure to the frame, and bent it. I held one earlier today and I doubt I could apply sufficient pressure to permanently bend it with my hands. It's insane that people are blaming Apple for this.
> Either change your material (not majority aluminium), or really change your communication (push it as a tablet or a phone for in your bag) and warn of the risks.
Warning: if you drop your iPhone it's going to smash. Warning: if you set fire to your iPhone it's going to burn. Warning: if you put your phone in your pocket and bend the phone, it will fucking bend.
> Don't just push it like an ordinary larger phone and stay silent when people say it bends in their pocket days after release, and when people bend it with their fingers on camera.
Just like the 5S did. Just like the Samsung Galaxies do. Why don't people understand how this works? If you bend something, it will bend.
> I don't see how people can deny this is an issue.
Because 9.9 million people have the phone and no problem. Because they're not idiots who put a phone in their pocket, apply pressure to it somehow, and bend the phone.
> Obviously it's not a problem of people using their phone in an insane manner, as we simply didn't see similar bending problems with every iphone release before.
How many reported instances of this versus iPhone 6 users who have managed to not bend their phones? It's definitely an edge case of people using their phone in an unusual way (if it was the usual way it would be bending more phones). It's that simple.
> Well they need to change their design then. It's a design flaw.
Uh, what? You really think that because of an edge case outside of intended use (again: not just putting the phone in the pocket, we're actually applying significant pressure to it in order to accomplish this) Apple should design a thicker phone?
There are 5.1 million car crashes in the US per year which result in damage, dents, and bends to cars. Maybe we should redesign all of them too?
You're suggesting that because the material is not impervious to pressure they should augment the physical characteristics of the product to allow for an extraordinarily remote eventuality which is exhibited in a tiny number of devices which are used entirely outside of the normal conditions (i.e. they're under ENOUGH FUCKING PRESSURE TO BEND THEM.)
Not if it's a matter of a persons typical usage patterns exceeding some sort of structural limit. If 0.02% of people typically put too much pressure on the phone in their pocket, and 99.98% of people do not, then the 0.02% will have any iPhone 6 rapidly fail, and the 99.98% will see failures only after an unusual incident or after receiving a weaker than normal phone, and thus at a much slower rate.
Especially for varying definitions of "sitting", which may involve constantly jittering on one's chair or being in a habit of regularly hurling oneself into a sofa.
Sure, but it's not a normal phone, it's essentially a mini-tablet at that size. Yes, there's a pervading sense of 'you're pocketing it wrong', but there's been a few photos dug up and Apple will have sold somewhere between 1-3m iPhone 6 Plus' so far. Either it's limited to very specific circumstances, or they've got devices that have a specific structural weakness, or we've yet to hear the full extent.
These are not typical usage scenarios. These are standard issue "put it in a bench press and pretend it happened in my pocket" anti-iphone hysteria.
Just like the claim that the finger print scanner didn't work, the entirety of antenna gate and, naturally, all the pictures of shattered glass we see every time a new model comes out.
"oh, it was just sitting on the night stand and fell about 6 inches into a pillow and the glass shattered!"
I predict we'll get "my iPhone caught on fire!" and "man in china electrocuted by genuine apple power adapter[1]!" stories in the next couple months.
[1] Actually cheap poorly made knockoff but the press won't mention that.
Funny I've never seen someone bend an iphone 1,2,3,4,5,6 with their fingers on camera, but the 6+, days after release on the first try.
We'll see how this claim holds up, but look I'm an iphone user, not anti-apple at all, and not hysterical. It'd be pretty hysterical for me to deny what I'm seeing with my own two eyes.
While there is some level of faking in this world, I do not think that all claims are fake. Your absolute denial of every claim ever reads suspiciously like conspiracy theorism.
I'd be mildly hysterical too, the 6 is a phone that'll sell 100m units within its first six months and already sold 10m in its first weekend. If some of those units are based on a faulty design, that's a really big deal affecting tens of millions of people and tens of billions of sales.
It's a bit of hysteria, as like you've pointed out they sold 10m units and so far about a dozen people have had issues with bending. There's an issue yes, but it doesn't seem to be as widespread as the news reports seem to want it to be. It's the same as when one Tesla caught fire, the news reports covered it like there was going to be a full recall and much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The mild level of hysteria over this has been interesting
It is a brand new, $1000 consumer device. As haughty and rich as we all present ourselves, it really supremely sucks if you're the person whose brand new device got bent -- regardless of your available spending cash, it's a major bummer, moreso if you have a 2 year contract ahead of you and a dead device. That is why there is a "hysteria".
Gorilla glass (not sure if the iPhone uses that brand specifically, but they use ion enhanced glass which is what it is) famously bends.
This story got knocked back to page 3 for having too many comments to upvotes, as an aside.
If the glass bends, and they marketed it right, it could have been a cool feature. It is Apple, they managed to market the Shuffle for basically having almost no user interface and complete lack of features compared to anything else on the market.
I'm not worried. 14 day return policy + AppleCare = no risk that that I'm stuck with a bad/dead device.
If this turns out to be a major problem that doesn't happen to me initially, I'll return the phone. If it's not that widespread but I'm among the unlucky ones who ends up with a bent phone over the next 2 years, Apple will replace it for free (or worst case charge me $79 if they think it's my fault).
