Apple takes press on tour of iPhone test facility to address 'Bend-gate' [updated with video]

Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2014
Shortly after releasing a statement regarding iPhone 6 Plus bending issues, Apple on Thursday invited journalists to take a tour of its normally off-limits "torture test" building, where the latest models are exposed to a battery of durability assessments.


Source: The Verge


Apple reiterated that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been thoroughly vetted in a trial by fire process, with some 15,000 devices going through testing before the designs passed muster, reports The Verge.

"The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus are the most tested," said Apple SVP of Hardware Engineering Dan Riccio. "As we add more and more features, we have to find out a way to break them before customers do."

According to the publication, custom-rigged machinery puts products like the iPhone through various tests to simulate real world scenarios like sitting down with the phone in your pocket. Customers earlier this week began to complain of issues with the iPhone 6 Plus, saying that the handset flexes to the point of bending when proper pressure is applied.

"We've designed the product to be incredibly reliable throughout all your real world use. And in designing that we then have to validate heavily, and see how does it live up to real world use, and what are the forces and pressures on it, and how do you measure and prove that you've delivered on a specification," said Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller.

Schiller noted that users with bent or otherwise damaged devices can visit an Apple Store, where the product will be assessed and, if applicable, replaced under warranty.

Re/code was also invited on the tour and reports seeing four tests in action, including a sit test, pressure point test, torsion test and three-point bend test, the latter of which proves iPhone 6 can carry at least 25 kilograms of weight focused on the center of the device. The 6 can actually withstand more pressure, but Apple declined to offer specific numbers.


Source: Re/code


As noted by The Verge, the last time Apple brought the media into a test facility was in 2010, shortly after the iPhone 4 "Antenna-gate" kerfuffle. At the time, late company cofounder Steve Jobs demonstrated the handset's radio capabilities in an anechoic chamber.

While "Antenna-gate" warranted a special press conference, the recent iPhone 6 Plus issues are seemingly less pronounced as Apple said earlier today that only nine reports of bent iPhones have come in since launch.

"The bottom line is that if you use enough force to bend an iPhone, or any phone, it's going to deform," Riccio said.

Photos of testing equipment in action from The Verge:

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 225

    “Look. Idiots. Here’s how it goes down. Now stop spreading lies about our products.”

  • Reply 2 of 225
    Well thats that....Apple rules.
  • Reply 3 of 225
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Who are you going to believe? :???:

     

    Apple, who has vigorously tested thousands of phones, going through their state of the art test facility, or one knucklehead on Youtube who has tested one used phone that was previously bent from before and who is testing it in the most amateurish way possible?  :no: 

     

    Anybody who chooses to believe the latter is free to go and buy an Android phone, because frankly speaking, I believe that they are too dumb to own any iOS devices, and I'd rather not have such people as fellow Apple users.

  • Reply 4 of 225
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    “Look. Idiots. Here’s how it goes down. Now stop spreading lies about our products.”

    Yes - as expected, they tested extensively and the design meets their strength criteria. Now, one can argue about whether those criteria are appropriate but, given the forces apparently applied by others to make these phones bend, I see no evidence that they are not.
  • Reply 5 of 225
    Another story was reporting that the actual number of cases reported to Apple was ...9. Even calling it a manufacturing defect only having 9 issues out of over 10 million phones is a home run in my book.
  • Reply 6 of 225
    1) It's been days and Obama still hasn't come clean about Bendghazi. Is there a cover up, Obama?¡

    2) Apple is the only manufacturer that makes a smartphone that conforms to the user's pocket.

    3) For antenna-gate Apple showed us their testing center. At this point we can't rule out Samsung [I]et al.[/I] inventing these issues to get a look into how Apple makes such superior devices.
  • Reply 7 of 225
    The iPhone 6 Plus is a curse on Apple. They never should've made it. I bet none of the executives including Ive himself even use it.
  • Reply 8 of 225
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    1) It's been days and Obama still hasn't come clean about Bendghazi. Is there a cover up, Obama?¡

     

    Since you brought it up, yes there is indeed a cover up taking place.

     

    Bendghazi is fake, complete made up BS, and Benghazi is real, an actual scandal.

  • Reply 9 of 225
    apple ][ wrote: »
    Since you brought it up, yes there is indeed a cover up taking place.

    Bendghazi is fake, complete made up BS, and Benghazi is real, an actual scandal.

    1) No.

    2) More than 2x as many iPhone 6 Pluses affected by Bendghazi than people killed in 2012 Benghazi attacks.

    3) No.

    4) No.

    5) No.

    6) Shut up.
  • Reply 10 of 225
    Brilliant! This is exactly how to deal with viral trolling, use the publicity to shed positive light on the issue and hilight one of Apple's many strengths, build quality. This is a new Apple we're seeing and I love it. Major kudos to Tim for making this happen. I hope we see more of this kind of FUD control.
  • Reply 11 of 225
    This is why some people can't have nice things. No matter what it is, they end up wrecking them.
  • Reply 12 of 225
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    1) No.



    2) More than 2x as many iPhone 6 Pluses affected by Bendghazi than people killed in 2012 Benghazi attacks.



    3) No.



    4) No.



    5) No.



    6) Shut up.

     

    (1) Yes.

     

    (2) Who gives a crap about phones? Why are you comparing phones to people? 

     

    (3) Yes.

     

    (4) Yes.

     

    (5) Yes.

     

    (6) You shut up.

  • Reply 13 of 225
    apple ][ wrote: »
    Who gives a crap about phones? Why are you comparing phones to people?

    1) You're the one that mentioned Benghazi, not me.

    2) If you don't give a crap about phones then why do every respond to threads concerning phones?
  • Reply 14 of 225
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    You're the one that mentioned Benghazi, not me.

     

    You mentioned Bendghazi and Obama, don't try to play dumb now.

  • Reply 15 of 225
    Let me get my tin foil hat.
  • Reply 16 of 225
    apple ][ wrote: »
    You mentioned Bendghazi and Obama, don't try to play dumb now.

    I mentioned Bendghazi and Obama.
  • Reply 17 of 225

    So they have test apparatus's (apperati?).  Of course.

     

    It says they're the 'most tested iphone'.

     

    And the 'duh' statement: "The bottom line is that if you use enough force to bend an iPhone, or any phone, it's going to deform," Riccio said.

     

    Of course, with enough force you can break anything.

     

    'Most tested' doesn't mean 'most successful' or 'most robust.' (They probably didn't show the press the bins of destroyed iPhones.)

     

    And it neglects to answer the question if the iPhone 6 and 6+ take less force to bend than previous iPhones.

     

    Which is a glaring omission.

  • Reply 18 of 225
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    I mentioned Bendghazi and Obama.

     

    No kidding, and where does that word originate from? Oh yeah, it's from Benghazi, which Obama is involved in.

     

    Anyway, this is going off topic, and we should not detract from the main point of this thread anymore, and that point is that Apple has officially owned the losers who are posting fraudulent iPhone videos on youtube and the people who are spreading FUD about Apple and iPhones.

  • Reply 19 of 225
    Looks like Samsung gets to take their ad off, with a happy debate of their brainwashed users spreading the news and apple getting on offensive time.
  • Reply 20 of 225

    This is awesome. Now that Apple showed us that they tested the iPhone 6 Plus it will never bend in any persons pocket again. This will shut up the idiots that say the Apple iPhone 6 Plus have a design flaw.

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