Apple knew in advance about iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus 'Bendgate' says court filing

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2018
A review of documents presented in court show that Apple was aware that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were more prone to bending than the smaller iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus


According to a report Thursday by Motherboard, internal Apple documents referenced in a recent court decision found that Apple knew that "iPhone 6 is 3.3 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, and the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.2 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s," according to testing by the company.

It's not clear exactly what the 3.3x and 7.2x figures relate to. A larger phone is subject to greater bend force on the device with an equal effort because of the larger size and longer distance from a flaw, as the the same effort on a smaller phone to a similar flaw. So, all other things equal, the larger phones should have been more prone to bending, prior to an "in-fill" of epoxy that the court claims was applied much later after launch.

The documents referenced remain under seal, but the judge in the case revealed these facts in a decision earlier in May.

Apple had said at the time that only a tiny number of consumers complained about the bending of the devices, and maintained a public stance that there were no engineering issues with the iPhones. Apple even took media on a tour of their testing facility.

"Touch Disease"

The "touch disease" issue reared its head significantly two years later, in 2016, when customers in larger numbers began noticing a small flickering towards the top of their screen on the iPhone 6 Plus. In November 2016 Apple reacted by launching a repair program, which offered repairs for a $149 service free. That followed reports, in August of that year, that about 11 percent of Apple Store repairs at the time were in relation to that particular issue.

Members of the repair community see a connection between the bending of the devices and the Touch Disease problem.

This led to a lawsuit over Touch Disease, from which the new documents emerged this week. The suit alleged that Apple indeed knew in advance about the problems with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Judge Lucy Koh, the perennial judge in Apple-related cases, denied the suit class action certification earlier this month.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 71
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    I still know 5 people who use the iPhone 6 Plus , so I call BS on that. 
    magman1979
  • Reply 2 of 71
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    If you can’t use common sense with your electronics, you don’t deserve one .
    JFC_PAmike1brian greenjony0magman1979tallest skiljbdragonflashfan207
  • Reply 3 of 71
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    If your behind is that big , for crying out loud, please don’t sit on your damn phone.
    JFC_PAjony0magman1979olstallest skiljbdragonflashfan207
  • Reply 4 of 71
    ericthehalfbeeericthehalfbee Posts: 4,489member
    3.3 or 7.2 compared to what? The real issue should be how many iPhones out of, say, 100,000 suffered from bending. 3.3 times 0.00001 is still a very small number.

    Sounds like they’re playing with numbers to come up with a figure that looks bad.

    For example, Note 7 fans said only 1 in 10,000 phones had an overheating issue. Seems reasonable, except that the industry average is closer to 1 in several million.
    mike1jony0cornchipwatto_cobraflashfan207
  • Reply 5 of 71
    andrewj5790andrewj5790 Posts: 296member
    3.3 or 7.2 compared to what? The real issue should be how many iPhones out of, say, 100,000 suffered from bending. 3.3 times 0.00001 is still a very small number.

    Sounds like they’re playing with numbers to come up with a figure that looks bad.

    For example, Note 7 fans said only 1 in 10,000 phones had an overheating issue. Seems reasonable, except that the industry average is closer to 1 in several million.
    Thank you. This was my first thought when I read it. The implication is that Apple lied when they said it affected a small number of consumers but the two presented facts are not mutually exclusive. Both can easily be true. 
    magman1979jbdragonbigpicswatto_cobraflashfan207
  • Reply 6 of 71
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    Some people are never satisfied.

    Other phones bend too, but nobody is suing then.

    Judge Koh? She hates Apple.
    racerhomie3magman1979jbdragon
  • Reply 7 of 71
    gilly017gilly017 Posts: 83member
    Yes I agree. Sounds like a lot Bends^*t to me. 
  • Reply 8 of 71
    JFC_PAJFC_PA Posts: 947member
    Well, yeah, physics much? Longer lever arms mean more force applied to the middle. So when some idiot sat on one they’d bend. 
    edited May 2018 randominternetpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 71
    mattbookairmattbookair Posts: 172member
    NEWSFLASH: YARDSTICKS MORE BENDY THAN RULERS, WHO KNEW!
    mike1stanthemanjony0magman1979randominternetpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 71
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 3,015member
    Did not and do not have any sympathy for morons that put their phone, any phone, in their back pocket and sit on it. It bends. It breaks. Duh. They deserve a dope-slap and be told to 'don't do that'. I have an SE and I don't put it in my back pocket. It's just common sense.
    magman1979dr. xwatto_cobralamboaudi4
  • Reply 11 of 71
    ericthehalfbeeericthehalfbee Posts: 4,489member
    My wife bent her 6 while playing with the kids. It was in her pocket and she fell on it. Took it to Apple and fully expected to pay the Apple Care fee for replacing a damaged device (she did, after all, bend it while roughhousing with the kids).

    Apple gave her a new iPhone 6 under warranty so we didn’t have to use up one of the damage replacements.
    jony0magman1979randominternetpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 71
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    My wife and I used iPhone 6’s for over three years before moving to 8’s. No bending, no touch disease, no nothing. Sure there will always be defective units but it’s also true that a lot of people abuse their phones no matter who made them. What counts is the actual numbers and that’s what we never seem to get a handle on, do we. When do those facts get published? When do we see the actual numbers from the legal actions. How many millions of iPhone 6’s were sold and how many suffered bending not caused by user abuse?
    jony0magman1979randominternetpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 71
    Brad TandyBrad Tandy Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    I've been using (and sitting on) an iPhone 6 since around this time in 2015. Never bent, no problems with the screen (although the current screen is an aftermarket replacement after an unfortunate garage event).
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 71
    3.3 or 7.2 compared to what? The real issue should be how many iPhones out of, say, 100,000 suffered from bending. 3.3 times 0.00001 is still a very small number.

    Sounds like they’re playing with numbers to come up with a figure that looks bad.

    For example, Note 7 fans said only 1 in 10,000 phones had an overheating issue. Seems reasonable, except that the industry average is closer to 1 in several million.
    If you read the article on Motherboard, those are Apple's numbers I believe, in comparison to an iPhone 5S.
  • Reply 15 of 71
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    If Apple knew the phone could be more susceptible to bending but didn’t attempt to fix and shipped anyway that doesn’t look good. I’d like to see some of the actual documentation.
  • Reply 16 of 71
    Bendgate? It's real! I recently brought my wife's iPhone 6 to Apple Store to replace the battery (with the battery health at 75%) the tech almost did not want to replace the battery because it had a little bent, concerning that it may have other issues. Luckily the phone worked fine with a new battery even with a little bent at the top-right. I bought the phone 6 when it was new, used it for 2 years then gave it to my wife. Always had it with a case, I even bought Apple's smart battery case when I gave it to my wife. So when the tech told me it had a bent, I was surprised because I was always careful with the phone, and never sat on it or put it in my back pocket.
    airnerd
  • Reply 17 of 71
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    3.3 or 7.2 compared to what? The real issue should be how many iPhones out of, say, 100,000 suffered from bending. 3.3 times 0.00001 is still a very small number.

    Sounds like they’re playing with numbers to come up with a figure that looks bad.

    For example, Note 7 fans said only 1 in 10,000 phones had an overheating issue. Seems reasonable, except that the industry average is closer to 1 in several million.
    Apparently those came from internal Apple documents. Per the Vice story:

    The information is contained in internal Apple documents filed under seal in a class-action lawsuit that alleges Apple misled customers about touch disease. The documents remain under seal, but US District Court judge Lucy Koh made some of the information from them public in a recent opinion in the case.

    The company found that the iPhone 6 is 3.3 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, and the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.2 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, according to the documents.
  • Reply 18 of 71
    tbstephtbsteph Posts: 95member
    If Apple knew the phone could be more susceptible to bending but didn’t attempt to fix and shipped anyway that doesn’t look good. I’d like to see some of the actual documentation.
     The iPhone 6 being more suseptible to bending than the smaller iPhone 5 (All other things being equal) should not surprise anyone. The question really is if the iPhone 6 is too bendable? Its bend-ability is relationship to the 5 is irrelevant. (FWIW, I had the 6 for three plus years without issue. However, I did not sit on it either.). Humbly, I submit this whole issue is more about eager attorneys - who will bend any and all directions necessary to win a lawsuit.
    randominternetpersonbigpicswatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 71
    DracarysDracarys Posts: 72member
    If your behind is that big , for crying out loud, please don’t sit on your damn phone.
    It wasn't just sitting on a phone that bent it. 
    airnerd
  • Reply 20 of 71
    brian greenbrian green Posts: 662member
    If you can’t use common sense with your electronics, you don’t deserve one .
    Oh we can’t possibly hold people accountable for their idiot choices like sitting on their phone.  Americans can’t take responsibility for their choices, so they have to sue a corporation over it.  It’s this same cry baby mentality that has lead us to having insanely long warning labels and lawsuits over everything.  It’s ridiculous.
    cornchip
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