ED#184 : #Bendgate Isn't New But It Could Finally Change The Industry For The Better

#Bendgate is becoming a marketing boon for the Android and Windows Phone platforms. The Internet is replete with satirical comments and memes about the iPhone 6's unexpected "feature", and it doesn't look like it's going to stop for quite some time to come. Here's a rather well-made one :

Even Blackberry CEO John Chen used #Bendgate to try and steal a little limelight for the launch of the Blackberry Passport, where he said, "I challenge you to bend the Passport."

Of course, John was very confident that the Blackberry Passport wouldn't bend - it uses a forged stainless steel frame and is square in shape. It is also relatively thick at 9.3 mm. Those three attributes are precisely the reason why the new Apple iPhone 6 and particularly, the iPhone 6 Plus are so "bendable".

The stiffness problem with the new iPhone 6 models is three-fold :

• It uses a thin aluminium body, which is light but easy to bend or deform.
• It is really thin at 6.9 mm (iPhone 6) and 7.1 mm (iPhone 6 Plus).
• It is longer at 138.1 mm (iPhone 6) and 158.1 mm (iPhone 6 Plus).

The length of the iPhone 6 models act as a lever, reducing the amount of force required to bend the thin aluminium chassis. Is it really any wonder than such a light, thin and long device is susceptible to bending?

In fact, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are not the first smartphones to suffer from this "bending" problem. Take a look at the list below :

So this isn't really an Apple-specific problem, but one that affects smartphones with aluminium frames or bodies. Smartphones with steel frames or plastic bodies do not have the same problem, which is why you can bend the iPhone 5s but not the iPhone 5c. In other words, when people show off how "unbendable" their plastic smartphones are, they aren't actually demonstrating how tough their smartphones are, just their ignorance.

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Can They Fix This?

There is unlikely to be a fix for the current slew of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones. Apple will probably only "fix" the problem in a future "iPhone 6s". iPhone 6 users will just have to handle them carefully, or protect them with hardened cases.

Normally, I would say that Apple will not replace or repair any iPhone 6 units that have been bent out of place, especially when we look at their historical lack of response to previous bending issues. However, the current uproar over #Bendgate is truly unprecedented, and that's a good thing - it could very well spur Apple to promise to repair, at their own cost, any iPhone 6 that gets bent.

So Apple fans should not get overly agitated by the snide remarks and open display of schadenfreude by Apple haters. Give them a thumbs up, and let them continue. They are only doing you a favour.

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How To Prevent This From Recurring?

IMHO, the main reason for these "bending" issues is the industry's absurd obsession with developing ever thinner smartphones. In their never-ending quest to come up with the thinnest phone in the market, they have resorted to using metal and even then, as thinly as possible. They even sacrificed battery capacity and ergonomics to achieve as thin of a profile as possible.

The thin profile alone may not be a problem had the size of the smartphone remained relatively small. However, the market wants ever larger devices. That has resulted in the creation of large, thin devices that are susceptible to bending.

To prevent the recurrence of such bending problems, the industry has to cease obsessing over how thin their smartphones are. Smartphones do not need to be paper-thin. In fact, I wouldn't mind a chunkier smartphone if it gives me a larger battery, and I am pretty certain no iPhone 6 user would complain if Apple made it a bit thicker to prevent it from bending.

If you are not put off by #bendgate, you can buy the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones and accessories from Amazon.com.

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