Fruity cargo cult Apple has broken its silence on complaints about bending iPhones, hours after withdrawing a glitch-ridden software update.
Like most of Apple’s statements in the middle of a crisis, the outfit insisted that the problem of bending iPhones was extremely rare.
In the first six days of sale, a total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said.
That might be true but “bendgate” is all over the Internet and online forums. The phones do bend when placed in back pockets or while wearing skinny jeans.
Jobs’ Mob insists that its iPhones feature stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high-stress locations and use the strongest glass in the smartphone industry. However structural engineers say that the phone is aluminium and thin so of course it has to bend.
But the bendy phone issue coincided with a faulty update to its latest operating system after some users of its new phones complained of call service disruptions. Users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also complained about the inbility to use the fingerprint-reading Touch ID after updating to iOS 8.0.1.
Muller did at least admit that this problem was a cock up.
Apple said on its website it was working on an iOS update to fix the problem, and will release it in the next few days.
As we reported, Apple said on Monday it had shipped 10 million units of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. If they are all returned because they bend, then Apple could lose a fortune.
Meanwhile Apple is getting a ribbing from rivals. Samsung ran an advert which showcased a bending phone against its own product, while BlackBerry CEO John Chen said: “I would challenge you guys to bend our Passport.”
Even Nestle Kit-Kat chocolate wafer brand tweeted “We don’t bend, we break”,
