Irate over iPhone

As smartphones are getting lighter and thinner, it was inevitable that their ability to handle daily wear and tear would be called into question, none more so than Apple’s new iPhone 6 Plus.

The first reports of bendy iPhones began last week when photos appeared online showing the top of the device bent out of shape with the scandal quickly being dubbed ‘Bendgate’.

YouTube user Lewis Hilsenteger then posted a video showing the iPhone 6 Plus bending using just his fingers, which has already been viewed more than 45 million times.

With rumours about the device’s fragility circulating the internet, it was only a matter of time before a pair of dim-witted teenagers wandered into an Apple store to put it to the test for themselves.

In a five-minute video, two 15-year-old boys step into an Apple store to try to bend a gold iPhone 6 Plus. It is believed that the thinner model, as well as the use of aluminium metal in its design, causes the frame to deform.

The teens, a pair named Cudy and Danny from somewhere in England, start the video by explaining exactly what they did and why they did it. They tried to bend iPhones to prove that they could be bent, because an employee at the Apple store told them that ‘Bendgate’ was an online rumour.

After popping out the screen, the pair ran off, much to the dismay of the shop assistant.

Apple has acknowledged there are issues with new iPhones bending under some circumstances, but it added that it has only received nine official complaints
Meanwhile, a consumer product test site has weighed in on the controversy, and has found that while Apple’s new smartphones aren’t the strongest around, they’re not quite as weak as some are suggesting.

It said: ‘Internet hype would have you believe that you only need to put an iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 6 in a snug back pocket, and it’ll come out at the end of the day shaped like a banana’.

The site subjected the two new Apple smartphones, as well as an iPhone 5, an LG G3, a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and an HTC One M8 to a  ‘three-point flexural test’ to establish their relative rigidity.

This test involves the devices being suspended between two chocks of wood and struck in the unsupported middle with an increasing amount of force.

The iPhone 6 Plus bent under 90 pounds of force, and was completely destroyed under 110. That made it a little tougher than the iPhone 6, which bent under 70 pounds of force and completely came apart at 100 pounds.

The iPhone 6 Plus costs from around $299 (BD113) to $499 (BD188).