Hey guys, it’s Greg with Apple Explained. And in this video we’re going to explore
the bendgate issue that broke in 2014, and how it came back to haunt Apple four years
later. Now this topic was the third place winner of last week’s voting poll, and if
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So if you weren’t following the Bendgate debacle when it happened back in 2014, then
let me explain exactly how it went down. So the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were released near
the end of 2014 and generated quite a bit of hype since they had pretty radical designs
that featured much larger displays than the previous iPhone 5s, coming in at 4.7 and 5.5
inches. So customers were excited to get their hands on an iPhone that finally had a screen
size comparable to its competition. And after just three days of going on sale, over 10
million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units had been sold. And while those huge sales numbers gave
Apple a reason to celebrate, things took a turn for the worst when a handful of iPhone
6 Plus owners complain on social media that their new smartphone had bent during normal
usage.
And one of the first photos of a bent iPhone 6 Plus appeared in this MacRumors thread by
user hanzoh, who confirmed that after a long day of mostly sitting, his phone had bent
slightly after being in his front pant pocket. And at first, some users in the thread thought
maybe he was wearing unusually tight pants or maybe he had inadvertently sat on the phone,
but once other iPhone 6 Plus owners chimed in and posted their own photos, the story
started picking up steam. And it took less than twenty four hours for the issue to begin
trending on Twitter under the Bendgate hashtag. Now one of the first and most popular videos
demonstrating the iPhone 6 Plus being bent, was posted by Lou with Unbox Therapy. Which
received forty-five million views in its first 5 days of being uploaded. And in the video
Lou proved that the iPhone 6 Plus was in fact easier to bend than the previous iPhone 5s,
which raised questions about the 6 Plus’ weak spots, susceptibility to bending, and
the reliability of Apple’s own internal testing, which appeared to have failed to
catch this issue. So it’s clear that bendgate was a very popular topic getting Apple a lot
of negative attention. But you might be wondering what was so different about the iPhone 6 Plus
that made it easy to bend compared to the previous iPhone 5s.
Because if you remember, there were complaints about the iPhone 5s bending in people’s
pockets after its release, but the issue didn’t take off on social media like the it did with
the 6 Plus. And that’s likely because most of the bending users experienced with the
5s was the result of sitting directly on their phone while in their back pocket. And no one
really had any issues with the 5s bending in their front pocket from normal use. So
it never became a hot topic, unlike bendgate with the 6 Plus.
So now let me clarify what exactly was wrong with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus that made them
more susceptible to bending. It all began with the fact that they were the largest phones
Apple had ever made up to that point. And their designs had to be bigger to accommodate
their larger displays. And when you consider that these iPhones weren’t only larger but
also thinner than the 5s, it isn’t hard to imagine that maybe they weren’t as torsionally
rigid. And that’s where all of Apple’s problems began. Because it was this design
that led to owners experiencing slight bending of their devices near the volume buttons or
SIM card slot, the weakest points in the 6 Plus’ chassis.
Now it wasn’t long until bendgate went viral and many companies capitalized on this negative
press to rub some salt in Apple’s wounds. LG tweeted this photo of the G Flex, their
flexible smartphone, and said, “Our phone doesn't bend, it flexes...on purpose." While
Samsung tweeted this photo of their Galaxy Note Edge, with the accompanying text saying,
“Curved. Not bent.” Bendgate was such a popular topic that even companies outside
the tech industry like Pringles got in on the action.
So with all these tweets, customer photos, attention and news coverage aimed at Apple,
the company ended up responding to the issue on September 25th with a public statement.
And I want to highlight the ending which read, “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.” So clearly Apple wasn’t convinced that the issue was as widespread as most news
outlets had suggested. But many disagreed. Ewan Spence, a Senior Contributor for Forbes,
said, “If a customer thinks they have done something stupid with their phone, the chances
are they will suck it up and live with it, especially if the damage is minor. A degree or two of
bend would not be enough for many to return their new handset.”
Now this is where people really started to take sides. With one group asserting that
Apple was trying to downplay the issue in order to keep iPhone sales up and to prevent
refunds or even a recall. While the other side asserted that the issue was being blown
out of proportion since it only effected a small amount of users. And the debate heated
up even more when MacRumors claimed that the Unbox Therapy bend test video may have been
faked. Since the iPhones clock proved that the video was cut and edited. And if that
wasn’t enough, a company called uBreakiFix posted a more scientific stress test video
of not only the iPhone 6 Plus, but also the the Galaxy Note 3. And this test proved that
both the 6 Plus and Note 3 bent while under about one hundred pounds of force, although
the 6 Plus stayed bent whereas the Note 3 bounced back to its original shape. And Lou
with Unbox Therapy ended up posting another uncut video filmed outdoors in Toronto with
witnesses, in order to prove that the device could in fact be bended by his bare hands,
without any kind of camera trickery. And all of this bad press caused Apple’s stock price
to take a hit. Falling over 3% in less than twenty-four hours.
So at this point, most people agreed that the 6 Plus was easier to bend than any other
iPhone. And that naturally led to the question of what Apple was going to do about it. Because
it wasn’t unreasonable to believe the 6 Plus could develop a slight bend with normal
use over a period of time. And if that was the case, many believed it was Apple’s responsibility
to replace the defective unit and to prevent the issue from happening to future devices.
And while Apple did agree to issue replacements of effected 6 Plus units, the devices had
to pass what Apple called a Visual Mechanical Inspection conducted by the Geniuses at their
retail stores. The problem was no one really knew what criteria their 6 Plus had to meet
in order to pass the inspection. It was assumed that Apple would replace units that appeared
to’ve been bent accidentally, rather than being bent on purpose which was something
quite a few 6 Plus owners were doing, whether it be for social media attention or just out
of curiosity. Apple even had a problem with display iPhones being bent on purpose in their
retail stores by disrespectful visitors.
And the fact that Apple was quietly replacing select phones angered some users, who felt
that Apple was refusing to own up to their design flaw while essentially legitimizing
the problem by replacing effected units. But Apple never officially acknowledged the issue,
and likely hoped the bendgate fiasco would die down over time. But unfortunately for
them, the exact opposite happened. Because as users 6 Plus’ experienced slight bending,
a mechanical failure was triggered where the iPhone’s touch screen would become unresponsive.
And a simple screen replacement wouldn’t fix the issue since the problem was actually
caused by two controller chips coming loose from the logic board. And this marked the
beginning of a completely new headache for Apple nicknamed Touch Disease. Which actually
became a much more serious problem for Apple than bendgate, since some of the replacement
units they were issuing also showed signs of touch disease within days of use. But Apple
never publicly acknowledged the issue, even though former retail employees claimed Apple
was aware of it.
And you can imagine that a lot of customers were pretty upset when they were told that
the only way to fix their non-responsive iPhone was to buy a new one. So a class action lawsuit
ended up being filed against Apple in 2016, and is still ongoing today.
Now I should mention that while this entire bendgate episode was going on, there were
those who suspected Apple knew the iPhone 6 Plus was more susceptible to bending all
along. Even before it was released. But there was no evidence to substantiate that claim,
so it was never taken seriously by news outlets or on social media. Most people figured Apple
had simply overlooked the problem or didn’t thoroughly test the 6 Plus chassis. But according
to official court documents released just this year as a result of the touch disease
lawsuit, Apple did in fact know that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were much more susceptible to
bending than the iPhone 5s. According to their data, the iPhone 6 was 3.3 times more likely
to bend, while the 6 Plus was 7.2 times more likely to bend. It was also revealed that
Apple began using an epoxy underfill on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus to reinforce the circuitry,
while relocating the touchscreen circuitry to the display assembly. Apple also used a
stronger 7000 series aluminum on the 6s and 6s Plus while reinforcing weak points in its
chassis, all to prevent another bendgate or touch disease from happening.
So that was a closer look at the history of bendgate, and if you want to vote for the
next video topic, don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next
time.