It looks like ‘bendgate’ was real after all.
Recently released internal documents have revealed that Apple was aware that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were more likely to bend when compared to previous versions of the smartphone, according to a report stemming from Motherboard.
The information came to light as part of an ongoing lawsuit regarding touch screen failure due to the iPhone 6 ‘bendgate’ controversy from a few years ago.
The documents revealed in court show that Apple’s internal tests found the iPhone 6 was 3.3 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5S, with the larger iPhone 6 Plus being 7.2 times more likely to bend.
Way back in 2014, long before the recent controversy surrounding Apple throttling the processor in older iPhones, there was ‘bendgate.’
Shortly after the release of the smartphones, reports began to emerge that iPhone 6 and 6 Plus could potentially bend while sitting in a user’s back pocket due to design flaws on Apple’s part. At the time, Apple said that the phone actually bending was an “extremely rare” occurrence, and even invited media outlets to its office for a tour of its quality control measures.
That said, issues related to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus bending continued to be reported. Later the issue resurfaced when reports emerged that some iPhone 6 smartphones started to suffer from “touch disease,” causing the device’s touchscreen to fail due to the its touch-controller chip malfunctioning, with some theorizing that this problem was due to physical damage to the iPhone.
In the documents Judge Koh mentions that Apple eventually made internal changes to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus design by adding additional epoxy to strengthen the area underneath the iPhone 6’s touch-controller chip.
Source: Motherboard
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