Just days after its US launch and days before its global launch Apple’s hyped iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices have encountered a problem – it is claimed the 5.5-inch device can be bent out of shape.
In recent weeks Apple launched its new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones, Apple Pay and Apple Watch device to a Cupertino crowd – mostly consisting of middle-aged men by the looks of it – who bayed their approval like teenage girls at a One Direction concert.
The two devices come in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sizes, feature Apple’s new A8 processor, a new M8 accelerometer chip as well as powerful new camera features. They represent the first serious change in shape and size of the iPhone in a number of years.
Demand for the new devices has been insatiable and Apple claims to have sold 10m devices in just its first weekend, up from 9m a year ago when the iPhone 5c and 5s went on the market.
However, since yesterday reports have been filtering about that the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices lack durability and can easily warp and bend out of shape just by leaving it in your pocket.
A number of interesting videos have surfaced online including one from Unbox Therapy that shows indentations appearing on the device after just a few day’s ownership.
The presenter in the video below also shows the aluminium-bodied device bending under the pressure of his hands, with the most damage being inflicted around the top half of the iPhone 6 Plus.
The timing of the news could not be worse for Apple as the new phones go on sale internationally this Friday.
Apple has yet to make any official statement on its new bendable phones, but the debacle could overshadow blunders like Apple Maps and the controversial antenna issue with the iPhone 4 in 2010.
Either way, the very notion of a thing of beauty and sophistication bending to unshapely proportions must surely be an anathema to design purists like Jonny Ive.
And, since tight jeans are all the rage amongst the hipsters the bending phone issue could be a problem, but perhaps middle-aged men in baggy trousers might pose less of a problem. Who knows? Perhaps Apple could come up with a new line of protective wearables and call them iPants.
