Curved. Not bent. #GALAXYNoteEdge
Samsung got a lot of mileage out of Apple's "Bendgate" woes last year, poking fun at its Cupertino rival for reports that the iPhone 6 Plus was susceptible to bending. There were mocking corporate tweets. And videos. And snide "this stuff won't bend" remarks from Samsung executives.
Well, turns out "this stuff" will bend, as a new video from SquareTrade shows. Put to the test by SquareTrade's new BendBot, a robot designed to assess smartphone bendability, Samsung's Galaxy 6S edge proved to be just as bendable as Apple's iPhone 6 Plus — and quicker to suffer a catastrophic bending failure. Like the iPhone 6 Plus, the Galaxy 6S edge began bending at 110 pounds of pressure. But it ceased functioning at 149 pounds. Meanwhile, the iPhone 6 Plus continued to function normally until 179 pounds of pressure.
Now, it's unlikely that your phone will ever be subjected to 110 pounds of direct pressure — let alone 149 pounds or 179 pounds. That said, as smartphones get bigger and thinner, their bendability could become a real-world concern for consumers. Last year, in mid-Bendgate, Apple claimed just nine people complained about the 6 Plus bending, and most reviewers said it was a negligible issue.
Here's a video of SquareTrade's BendBot in action.
Samsung is not pleased with these findings, and released an official response countering SquareTrade's research. The smartphone maker specifically takes umbrage at the idea that 110 pounds of pressure is a normal amount for a phone to withstand—it places the average amount of force on a phone at 66 pounds. Which, sure: 110 pounds is a ridiculous amount of pressure, and it's fairly reasonable that a phone would break under that much weight. But Samsung did specifically advertise its phones as the non-bendable alternative to the iPhone 6 Plus — and that still claim seems to be unfounded.