iPhone 6 And 6 Plus Third Party Bend Testing Performed

Over the last several weeks there have been a rash of reports going around that the new big screen iPhone 6 Plus bends like taffy if you put it in a pocket. Apple finally responded to the rigmarole and announced that so far only nine iPhone 6 Plus smartphones had been bent that it knew of. While many might not trust Apple's take, a highly respected magazine has conducted its own tests on the bendability of the new iPhones and threw some other devices in the testing mix as well.

Consumer Reports went straight science on the bend tests using something called a three-point flexural test where a phone is supported at two points and then force is applied to a third point. The pressure was applied to the smartphones tested using a high-precision Instron compression test machine. That means it's highly accurate and a legitimate way to test the claim that all iPhone 6 Plus smartphones are going to bend in your pocket.

Apple has stated that it tests the smartphones using 25 kilograms of force, which is a bit more than 55 pounds of force. CR says that 55 pounds is about the force required to break three pencils. In testing, the publication began with 10 pounds of force for 30 seconds, then released it, and increased in 10-pound increments until the phones first started to "deform" or bend. Testing was stopped when the screen separated from the case.

The results saw the iPhone 6 Plus deform at 90 pounds of pressure and separation happened at 110 pounds. The larger iPhone was tougher than the normal iPhone 6, which deformed at 70 pounds and separated at 100 pounds. Both new iPhone models survived more pressure than the HTC One M8, which deformed at 70 pounds (matching the iPhone 6) and separated at 90 pounds. The strongest phone in the test was the Galaxy Note 3 deforming at 150 pounds and separating at the same pressure.

SOURCE: Consumer Reports