Apple knew iPhone 6 was more likely to bend, according to internal documents

Remember the #bendgate and touch disease controversies surrounding the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus? They both involved the bodies of the iPhone bending and causing issues, and now some new info shows that Apple knew those models were more likely to bend.

Internal Apple documents that've been included in a class action lawsuit reveal that Apple knew that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were more likely to bend that the iPhone 5s. Specifically, Apple's docs say that the iPhone 6 was 3.3 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s, while the iPhone 6 Plus was 7.2 times more likely to bend.

Apple never said publicly that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were more likely to bend than their predecessor. The company responded to #bendgate by saying that only nine customers contacted Apple with bent iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus devices shortly after release, and it said the touch disease problem was the result of phones that'd been "dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then [incurred] further stress".

The court documents related to this class action lawsuit also detail a change Apple made to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to combat the touch disease issue. In May 2016, a year and a half after the phones first debuted, Apple added some epoxy to the logic board to fix the issue.

Apple launched its "Multi-Touch Repair Program for iPhone 6 Plus" in November 2016 for devices affected by the touch disease issue. Under this program, iPhone 6 Plus owners with the touch disease problem could get their phone repaired for $149, down from the normal $349 price.

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