At Apple’s Reliability Testing Lab the iPhone’s Multi‑Touch display is twisted and bowed.
With the iPhone 6 bending controversy heating up and Apple PR masterfully debunking the non-issue earlier today, it should come as no surprise that Apple does a lot of durability testing on its new devices before shipping. However, the team responsible for that testing– Apple’s Product Design Structural Analysis team for iPhone and iPod– needs some help.
Today the company posted a job listing seeking engineers to stress test new iPhones and iPods just as it responded to the controversy saying the problem was “extremely rare” during normal everyday use.
Specifically, Apple is looking for experts in failure analysis, metallography or fractography to work on its Product Design Structural analysis team. The job requires material testing and determining “the strength of raw materials and components” while working with the product design team. In other words, these are the people that are supposed to make sure your iPhone 6 Plus doesn’t bend (during normal use) in your pocket. As for what that durability testing includes, Apple notes the team performs 4-point bend tests, tensile testing, and other industry standard analysis [emphasis ours]. Apple’s tests also include pressure point cycling, sit, torsion, and user studies, according to the company.
Earlier today Apple responded to the bending controversy saying only 9 customers (of the 10+ million new iPhones sold) had complained of bent devices. It also said that “both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus passed a series of tests meant to check the products’ strength and durability to withstand every day, real-life use.”
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Good timing for that job post, Apple… You’re really making it easy for people/competitors to mock you these days..
Apparently the people working at Apple aren’t as smart as we thought they were.
Like I said earlier, I can’t wait until the 6S Plus resolves this non-existent issue.
All they have to do once they come out with a finished prototype is give a bunch of teenagers the phone for a couple of months and have them test the product. teenagers are usually the most careless and the most destructive.
If you notice in the photo, they are bending just the glass and not the finished product and these people doing bending tests are just bending them at the stress point which is not dead center. They should put these things in people’s back and front pockets and let them sit down repeated times to see if there is a weak area in the case. It’s the case that’s the problem, not necessarily the glass.
Hate to be the bearer of past news but they used that practice with earlier iterations of iPhone. They stopped after the iPhone 4 fiasco – an engineer sold a prototype to Gizmodo. All testing is now done on-site now which is why this bending phenomenon started with iPhone 5. None of the devices since iPhone 4 are tested in real-world conditions.
^He didnt sold it but had dropped it in a bar.!
^ The engineer left it in a bar, an accomplice later collected the iPhone and sold it to Gizmodo. This was so all parties involved could avoid prosecution with a judgement of negligence. Apple insisted on a Police investigation, read the report.
Besides the (idiotic) teenager part….you know they don’t do exactly this type of testing how?
I often wonder how such arrogant and ignorant people make through the day. I really do.
In engineering, we stress test not only the completed assembly but the individual piece parts and sub assembly components prior to integration. What you are seeing there, is stress and fatigue testing of one component. That is the way we perform materials testing. It is a standard methodology that is practiced world wide.
Thermal cycling, vibration analysis, thermal over temp operational, shock test, impact test, salt fog n fungus test, corrosion test, fluid susceptibility test, dust test, drop test, tensile test, RFI, EMI, and so on.
So, what you are seeing there, is simply a single test for that component.
Well done, you have publicised the fact that you have attended some engineering theory lessons. Your comment however, does not help whatsoever. Any old engineer – me included – can readily see that the weakest point in the carcass is the cutout for the buttons. So the big question is, why is intensive local stress testing not conducted at that place, which obviously could readily occur in common daily usage? Surely you have heard of designing to be “idiot proof”? Why did Apple not analyse this weakness sufficiently to prevent ‘Bendgate’?
No one designs to be idiot proof. There’s no money to do that. I work space and satellite systems and numerous contracts for the DoD vs. Crapple.
You’ve either been out of the industry for some time or, are living in dream land. No one designs anything to be idiot proof. There’s no money to do that. Every contract involves cutting costs. Boeing asked me to reduce costs by 20% next year. Folowing year, they want another 10% cut. Then people wonder why thi MG s are falling apart or not as good as they used to be.
Steeped in industrial small-talk you fail to be relevant, but thanks anyway.
Another thing to note is, only IF there’s a problem, does it get addressed. Case in point, wheels falling off cars or, an exploding prop blade that management gave the desgn task to an intern who, took the material properties off the e paper dog bone per OEM and input that into a shitty modeling package that comes with Solid Jerks. It was so far off from real world. Why does this happen? Because management did not want to pay the guy from Cal Tech, Lockheed Martin, the 100/hr.
It all comes down to what they feel they can get away with. And remember now, supposedly, only 9 phones are reported to be an issue out of millions sold.
No on3 talks about the Note 3 by Samsung that warps on the dash mount whene used as a GPS. Mine warped. I didn’t complain. I heated it up, pressed it flat, and allowed it to cool. Now, it never goes in the window or dash mounts.
You have to be with stupid, when you put your iPhone into your trouser pockets.
So should I wear it around a lanyard on my neck? or?
Do you remember the motorola startac? It was marketed as the “wearable cellular telephone” and actually came with a lanyard.
You should keep it in a reinforced metal transport case, similar to the ones used for photography equipment. Not doing so will invalidate the … zzz snore zzz
Where do you keep yours, in your purse?
Fanny pack!
At some point in your life you’ll realize the internet is filled with 85% idiots, 10% trolls and 5% people of actual value. On that day you will realize which demographic you fit into. For you that day was today, or rather it could be everyday if you post comments as stupid as this one on a daily basis.
Seems that you yourself fit into the ‘troll’ category
Can’t wait for an even thinner iPhone 7.
But . . . . It will weight 16 oz. and have a battery life of 4 hours.
(sarcasm)
“With the iPhone 6 bending controversy heating up”
There is no evidence that iPhone 6 has ever bent.
I guess you weren’t paying attention then because there have been a number of alleged reports to the contrary.
http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/25/apple-responds-to-iphone-6-bendgate-controversy-says-only-9-customers-have-complained/
He was referring to the 6 vs the 6+
Yep, “a number”. That numbers is 9.
Even if it was 900, or 9000, it wouldn’t even be within the margin of error for what is likely close to 20 million of them in the wild.
@JordanKahn I do find it interesting of this job posting and the bend issues some are having with the 6 Plus. But as interesting as I find it, there is no evidence to point to the fact that this position has anything to do with this bend issues. Also, this could have been a nice article without the added sarcasm coming from 9to5mac.
Do italicized words indicate sarcasm in today’s news reports?
Apple is no longer the same after Steve Jobs.
-Apple Maps still bad.
-iOS 7 unergonomic interface.
-Issues with the Sep keynote Live casting event.
-Delay of Apple Watch release.
-iPhone6+ Structural design issues and also backlit component.
-iOS 8 problems
If I had Apple shares I’d be selling them.
Apple is back to what it was before Steve Jobs.
It just doesn’t work.
Let me see. I use maps, do you? If maps is bad, compare to what, to your expectations?
I find it that works perfect for me. So why aren’t i going to google maps sites complaining? Because we don’t need to be reinforced by others in our decisions.
I have used both Apple and Google Maps and Google Maps is by far the superior product.
With the kind of resources Apple has and 2 years time it is unacceptable.
Toro, interesting comments there. Let’s see…
1. Have been using Apple Maps consistently now, and it has worked very well for me.
2. Some people like iOS7; some dislike it. If it is that bad iOS7 will not garner some 90% use according to statistics
3. I will not say anything about the keynote event yet. If it happens again, then we will have words with Apple. Everyone is entitled to a learning process. Even Steve Jobs presentations had some snafu in the past, and they learned.
4. Who said Apple Watch is delayed? Was iPhone 1 delayed when there was gap between the unveiling and the time they started selling to the public? Most people have missed some subtle point from Apple during and just after the keynote – some features of the Watch are still secret; not everything was shown in the keynote. The Watch is not a finished article yet, and they need some developers to get on board by the time it is released. If they had not released it at the time they did, 9to5mac or some other site would surely have pictures of it on their sites by now.
5. Let Apple investigate and determine that there are structural issues involved with the iPhone 6. As for me, I am getting the 6+ early 2015. I am not letting a guy who nearly broke his fingers trying to bend the phone convince me not to get one. I will never buy a phone and forcefully bend it.
6. iOS 8 problems like any other software problems will be fixed. I do not worry one bit about that. I have iOS8 on my 5s and have been enjoying it.
I wonder what you would have said when the Mac Cube came out?
LMAO. Delay of Apple Watch!
How I wish I owned a company where these were my “problems”.
It is time that Apple stops the race into nothingness for the iphone. To me, the iphone 5s is thin enough. I dont even like the protruding camera of the 6.
Is Apple afraid that they have to keep thinning it? They went thicker with the ipad mini retina and they didnt get any flack. It is time to do the same with iphones.
People that mention the protruding camera frighten me…I seriously would not like to meet one of these people so bothered by something so trivial in the real world. I can’t even imagine what people like you are really like.
It both sickens and horrifies me that people like you really exist. I know we cast you off as Troll, but that just doesn’t cover it for me.
Can we please get back to the real issue here… how buggy and laggy iOS 8 is???
Hardly at all. Maybe us developers don’t notice it as much since we’ve used it for months as it matured from buggy to not buggy…and those of you that just went from mature iOS 7 to new iOS 8 are noticing some differences….but there are no major show stopping bugs in iOS 8.
Now, I don’t know what you consider “bugs” anyway, but there a list of issues that are not bugs per se:
1. iCloud Photo Library pulled from public release.
2. Delayed HealthKit integration, which is now (allegedly) back and ready for Apps to re-launch.
3. SMS Relay delayed.
4. Third Party Keyboards completely half-baked integration.
5. Extreme lack of developer support at launch for new iOS 8 APIs (the bigs ones).
-Extensions
-Touch ID
-Widgets
Anyone who works for a large company knows that this position had to go through weeks of approvals before it could be posted. I am sure no one in PR was even aware the posting was coming.
If they are going for thinner designs in the future, they will have to engineer a different solution, any metal will bend once you go thin enough, even high strength ones.
Lol you guys are arguing over nothing Apple is not about designing quality products anymore it’s about hoarding money for the investors. Do you call making a phone with an 8mp camera and JUST NOW adding optical image stabilization innovative.. Let’s not even get into the garbage Apple TV 2nd and 3rd gen that it took them years to acknowledge the terrible wifi antenna it was designed with.. If your into electronics and own Apple products you will come to the conclusion that the only thing that is holding Apple up right now is it’s Ëcosystem”which can be in danger with the incoming product – Apple Watch.. Another disaster waiting to happen might be the new “family sharing”..
If you think 70 lbs of pressure is a lot of weight and don’t believe the the iPhone 6 plus can bend with day to day usage let two months go by..
Seems like they forgot to water proof it.. I bet the answer to that will be to go to the genius bar as well.. For all the people hear defending the money hoarding and non innovative Apple here good luck.. As i predicted 2 yrs ago once android reaches version 5 why the heck would i bother buying an iPhone ?? Looks like LG G3 or the Note 4 is the way to go for me.. So long to my iPhone 5 come December.
When Xiaomi can design a pair of earbuds that shits on any beats headset i’ve tried and destroys the earbuds that comes with your apple iphone i stopped using mine and i now use the Xiaomi Piston 2.
Lastly like i mention i own several Apple products but it’s sad that they have been clearly left behind when it comes to innovation.
Good luck all..
Correct. They are doing nothing more than drip-feeding the ever-increasing army of dumbed-down babies. In my opinion, which is perhaps biased as it is the only Apple product that I own, have ever owned and perhaps will ever own, the iMac is the only real valid product in their lineup that is market-leading, in that they constantly update to the latest components on the market. That said, even there there are blinded mistakes, like implementing Thunderbolt which Intel seemingly refuse to open up, reduce the cost of, and allow to grow and become a useful facility; now that it has been virtually overtaken by USB3, is becomes nothing more than yet another useless hole in the back chassis.