As promised, Consumer Reports performed a series of durability tests with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Turns out I was wrong they would jump on the bendgate bandwagon (like they did with antenna gate) and find the 6 Plus less than durable. Instead, they actually did conduct a test not just of the iPhone 6’s, but also other comparable models from other manufacturers.
Regardless, it still amounts to clicks to their site since they unsurprisingly, did not put this report and video behind the subscriber paywall (nor has it changed my opinion that CR lost its relevance a long time ago; but the mainstream media probably will give these findings a bit more weight though since it is coming from a long established entity.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/09/consumer-reports-tests-iphone-6-bendgate/index.htm
The key takeaway from the report is what many of us have been saying though; it takes a substantial amount of force to bend/break/damage any of these devices (I’m talking about all the manufacturers products). It also vindicates the behind the scenes look that Apple provided to reporters as to the stress testing they put their products through.
However, both Apple’s and CR’s tests also aren’t conclusive either (even though CR’s puts the iPhone 6’s in a more favorable light from an impartial third party perspective). Why do I say this? This just like Apple’s own stress tests, are meant to find the breaking points of these devices. Real world use and accidents though, can often times lead to unpredictable results that seem contrary to these stress tests in a lab.
It’s just like drop tests by hand for example. Drop one of these phones the wrong way and their screens can still shatter easily (which is why there were many different results when the iPhone 6’s were drop tested on many different YouTube videos). None of these tests are scientific though compared to the types of tests Apple and what this Consumer Reports video, does. But they can only simulate real world scenarios to a limit. The point is that if you don’t handle these kind of devices with some degree of care, they can and likely will get damaged/break.
I’ve also seen claims from posters on sites like the forum at Macrumors by people claiming their iPhone 6’s were bent. Yet none of them have bothered to post any real proof via images/videos (which in this day and age, is requisite). The excuses are always the usual (don’t have another camera or they are having problems uploading it). The reality is that it is mostly all lies. As I originally noted, if this is where a real design defect, the amount of evidence would be flooding all avenues of social media; not just talk and reposts of videos and screen grabs from those same videos.
Which leads back to the original viral video and all the noise that it sparked across the mainstream media; you know, the ones who jumped on it quickly and ran with it (since sensationalism sells). It will probably just be a small footnote Monday morning (more so if there is some other piece of news they can focus on). As far as most netizens are concerned, none of this is going to change their own personal opinions and biases either. The results from CR’s test will just be spun whichever way by opposing camps anyway.
I will say that any astroturfing attempt using bendgate as an attack vector, failed miserably. People are still waiting in lines to get their hands on one of these phones. Relatively few including that same mainstream media, seems to give a damn that Samsung moved up the release of the Note 4 as a reaction to the success of the 6’s. In the mean time, Apple is actually selling through their supply of iPhone 6’s and 6 Plus’ as fast as they can make them regardless of this noise. And that must be driving the marketing executives at companies like Samsung, absolutely crazy.
