According to Apple’s test data, the Cupertino giant knew that the iPhone 6 range would be more susceptible to physical bending than previous iPhone generations.
The document states that Apple’s internal testing found that, compared to the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6 was 3.3 times more likely to bend, while the iPhone 6 Plus was a whopping 7.2 times more likely to bend than Apple’s previous smaller phones. Since the majority of the “Bendgate” controversy centered on the iPhone 6 Plus in particular, it would seem this testing was accurate.
The information comes courtesy as a part of an ongoing class action lawsuit against Apple, which claims the company wilfully misled consumers by selling the iPhone 6 range despite knowing of engineering flaws. The class action suit against Apple, filed in California, holds that Apple was aware of the flaw, known as “touch disease,” and by continuing to sell the iPhones, breached consumer trust by wilfully selling a flawed product. While the majority of the information heard in this case is currently sealed, U.S. District Court judge Lucy Koh saw fit to release certain segments of the of the information to the public.
According to most third-party repairers, “touch disease,” where the iPhone’s touchscreen loses consistency and eventually completely fails, was a result of the iPhone 6’s bend — though Apple has always denied the flaw was inherent, and refused to repair affected units for free. According to further information released by Koh, in May 2016 Apple quietly began reinforcing the faulty part of the logic board commonly associated with the touch disease flaw. Despite this, Apple has always maintained that issues with the touchscreen generally came about on devices “after being dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then incurring further stress on the device.”
In many ways, this lawsuit comes as a result of the iPhone 6 range’s infamous bend, known as “Bendgate.” That flaw led to users complaining that their new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units were bending after spending time in their pockets. The issue continued to escalate, with competitors and other companies poking fun at Apple for the controversy, until Apple agreed to replace affected units.