Smartphone – After the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, it seemed that Apple had produced another winner in the consumer electronics world. This has now been questioned, at least for the iPhone 6 Plus, as several reports point towards some issues with frame distortion after putting the phablet in the pocket.
While putting a phablet in the front pocket may not seem as a real logical solution given the size of the phone, many of us have no other choice. After reports emerged, the Squarespace.com website conducted some ‘scientific’ testing by trying to bend an iPhone 6 Plus by hand.
In this video posted by SquareSpace.com, someone tries to bend an iPhone 6 Plus by hand and the case deforms significantly at the button cut-out section. This is a surprising result given the great results Apple had with the mechanical integrity of its iPhones so far. There seems to be a point where a metal case becomes too thin.
This is not really a scientific test, as the bending forces and stress points are not clearly defined. Nevertheless, a phone that can be bent by applying pressure with the hands seems to suggest a serious mistake by the Apple engineers. The bending seems to occur exactly at the lower end of the button cut-out; this appears to be a mechanical weak point of the case design.
The same website also tried to bend a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 as shown below.
The result is very encouraging for Samsung and I wouldn’t be surprised if this result makes it in the next set of Samsung advertisements. Not good for the ultimate success of the iPhone 6 Plus. So far there is no official response from Apple, but I would expect to see a design change for the iPhone 6 Plus coming up ASAP. – Norbert Hildebrand
