Apple internal documents prove knowledge iPhone 6 had bending issues

According to a report from Motherboard, Apple knew that iPhone 6 would have bending issues before production. If you don’t remember, the iPhone was called out for being easier to bend than its competition. Videos sprouted up all over YouTube as channels started bending iPhone’s left and right. Eager for more information, various outlets set out to investigate further. While evidence kept sprouting up about the construction and material quality of both iPhone models. Apple officially maintained that there were absolutely no engineering issues with their flagship devices.

Now, thanks to court proceedings, we know that Apple knew that year’s iPhone was more likely to bend. According to internal documents obtained by Motherboard. Apple’s testing showed the new iPhone was significantly more likely to bend than the previous years iPhone. Motherboard was only able to get a portion of the internal documents as most of them still remain under court order seal. The bits they got were made public by US District Court Judge Lucy Koh.

The company found that the iPhone 6 is 3.3 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, and the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.2 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, according to the documents. Koh wrote that “one of the major concerns Apple identified prior to launching the iPhones was that they were ‘likely to bend more easily when compared to previous generations.’”

Despite these findings, Apple publicly maintained that there were no engineering issues with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but an internal review showed that engineering changes were necessary to prevent touch disease, according to court filings. In May 2016, a year-and-a-half after the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were released, Apple quietly began reinforcing the part of the logic board associated with touch disease, Koh wrote.

The bendgate issue also led to the touch disease issue where users were unable to get a response from their touchscreens. The reason for touch disease was a chip working its way off of the logic board from the extra flexing of the phone. Of course, both the bendgate issue and touch disease prompted a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit is ongoing but Judge Koh’s public release of some information proves Apple knew ahead of time. Be sure to checkout Motherboard’s full write up for the full story.

What do you think about Apple knowing there were issues with iPhone 6 before it went to production? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

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