Apple apparently knew that the iPhone 6 bending issue was real all along, according to internal documents presented in defense of a class-action lawsuit against the company.
It looks like Bendgate controversy is still very much alive, and it remains unclear how things will end for Apple.
Apple Knew About The iPhone 6 Bending Problem
Apple knew that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were more likely to bend compared to their predecessors from the company's internal tests.
The information, which was revealed in a court filing acquired by Motherboard, was contained in internal documents that Apple filed to defend against a class-action lawsuit on the matter. The internal documents were filed under seal, but some of the contents were made public by US District Court judge Lucy Koh in her recently released opinion of the case.
According to the internal documents, Apple's testing revealed that the iPhone 6 was 3.3 times more likely to bend compared to the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 6 Plus, meanwhile, was 7.2 times more likely to bend compared to the same device.
Despite these test results, Apple maintained in its statements to the public that there were no engineering problems with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The contents of the internal documents, however, reveal that the company knew about the iPhone 6 bending problem this whole time.
iPhone 6 Bendgate Recap
The iPhone 6 bending issue, more popularly known as Bendgate, started in 2014, when the smartphones were reportedly bending in the pockets of their owners. Apple, however, said at the time that the iPhone 6 bending problem was rare and even gave a tour to members of the press to showcase its durability test laboratory.
Bendgate escalated in early 2016, when iPhone 6 units started showing signs of touch disease, which was when the touchscreen would fail due to internal damage. The damage was believed to have been caused by the bending problem of the smartphones.
In addition, Koh revealed that Apple started making internal changes to the iPhone 6 design by May 2016. The company started using extra epoxy for added strength in the area underneath the touch-controller chips being affected by the bending problem. Apple announced a $149 program for touch disease repair in late 2016, but a class-action lawsuit for Bendgate was already filed by then.
The findings have placed Apple under even more bad light in the ongoing class-action lawsuit over Bendgate. Apple never admitted to the iPhone 6 engineering problems, a move that may come back to haunt it as the trial unfolds.
