Apple’s iPhone 6 #Bendgate controversy is far from over, even though Apple already revealed that very few customers have complained about such issues and Consumer Reports performed some thorough tests that prove the iPhone 6 models don’t bend as easily as expected. One person with some knowledge of the physics behind “Bendgate” seems to have figured out why the iPhone 6 Plus bends when enough force is applied to a certain part of the phone. Apparently, it’s not because the iPhone 6 is made of thin aluminum, but because of a different internal element that isn’t providing enough resistance.
FROM EARLIER: Consumer Reports offers the definitive take: ‘Bendgate’ is overblown
Looking at the Unbox Therapy video that went viral last week, and comparing it to high-quality images posted online by iFixit for its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus teardowns, user alleras4 explained on imgur that a metal reinforcement behind volume buttons isn’t well designed, which explains why the iPhone 6 can be bent near that particular stress point.
“So I can get to the conclusion that it’s not about if it bends or not, as seen in the video we know it does where other phones don’t or less so,” he wrote, after providing some schematics on force applied, momentum and resistance. ”It’s not about how much force must be applied and if a pocket will do the trick or not. It’s just that under a particular type of flexing, the phone is prone to bend mainly because a metal insert [behind the volume rockers] meant to reinforce [the volume buttons region] instead spins in an axis too close to the critical point. If they were further apart allowing better support to counter the flexing and not spinning, it would make it more resistant.”
Furthermore, he noted that in Apple’s iPhone 6 torture test tour for the media, a different kind of bending test takes place, where force is applied differently than in Unbox Therapy’s video, and that’s why neither iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus bend in testing like in that viral video. alleras4 also said that because the iPhone 6 Plus is bigger, it’s more likely to bend that way when pressure is applied next to the volume rockers.
Some images that give you an illustration of this potential iPhone 6 bending explanation follow below, but you should really check out the full, detailed report by clicking the source link below.
