Uh Oh! It looks like Apple is facing another problem. Internal documents have shown that Apple already knew about its bendgate during the making of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Keep scrolling for more juicy news!
Apple knew bendgate would hit the iPhone 6 series
Recently, internal documents have surfaced in a recent court filing. According to this source, Apple was aware of the fact that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are more likely to bend than the previous iPhone 5s. The issue got pointed out by the company before the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Internal tests revealed the iPhone 6 is 3.3 times easier to bend than the iPhone 5s; and the 6 Plus with 7.2 times more.
“Touch disease” means a troubleshoot that causes the display to show a flickering grey bar at the top while the touchscreen would work intermittently, or even stop working altogether. In addition, Apple only acknowledged touch disease in November 2016, offering to replace issued phones for $149 (down from $349). It did not state the mentioned engineering changes to the public, but explained that touch disease only happens after iPhones are “dropped multiple times on a hard surface.”
Apple was required to turn over its internal testing documents as part of discovery in an ongoing class-action lawsuit filed against it because of these issues. The documents themselves remain under seal, but US District Court Judge Lucy Koh made some of the information in public. In short, the lawsuit alleges that Apple misled its customers about touch disease. Under the public eye, Apple has never admitted that the phones have this bending problem; despite the two models suffered from “touch disease” as a result of how easy they are to bend.
When will Apple finally admit its fault?
Despite these findings, Apple still maintained that there were no engineering issues with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. But according to court filings, this internal review showed that engineering changes were necessary to prevent touch disease. In May 2016, after the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launching, Apple quietly began reinforcing the part of the logic board associated with touch disease. To read more about this lawsuit, click HERE.