Take it from the guy who tried to bend an Apple Exec’s iPhone Air; seeing how far Apple will bend its own ultra-slim phone is a harrowing affair.
Hi, I’m the tech journalist who fumbled an iPhone Air thrown to (or at) me by Apple Executive Greg Joswiak. I torqued the thing as far as I could and only managed a little bend from which the phone quickly recovered. In truth, though, I had already seen the trials Apple’s new 5.6mm iPhone Air and its entire new iPhone 17 lineup would endure. So perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised.
When it comes to reliability and durability testing, Apple doesn’t mess around and is not afraid to push the limits. It does it so that when you drop, kick, twist, bend, dunk, or drive through a haboob, your iPhone will come out unscathed.
Soon after Apple’s ‘Awe Dropping event’ on September 9, in which the company unveiled four new iPhones, the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and AirPods Pro 3, Apple took me behind closed doors to show off how it stress-tested the iPhone Air.
It’s no surprise that Apple wants to demonstrate that it’s more than ready to field questions about a potentially bendable iPhone. The scars from iPhone 6’s bendgate are almost still visible (I’m sure the psychic wounds persist).
Apple’s iPhone guantlet
As Apple walked me through the unique build and design decisions of the iPhone Air, which include putting virtually all the components under the Camera Plateau. I marveled at the tiny components (which I was not allowed to touch) arrayed before me. Much of the high-strength titanium Grade 5 body surrounds nothing but a lithium-on battery encased in a special metal frame.
Apple showed me videos of a phone being sprayed with high-intensity water from all angles and explained how they also subject it to seawater and even artificial sweat – ick.
To test the strength of its new Ceramic Shield 2 screen, Apple rubs it with a special abrasive tip; not exactly car keys, but I got the point.
Apple has a special phone-dropping robot that tests the phone against drops on the screen, corners, and back. The goal is to simulate almost any drop angle, and when the phone failed a test, they’d record it, make adjustments, and repeat that exact drop scenario over and over again.
The big bend test
Next, Apple handed me what looked like a small black brick. It was about the size of a smartphone. I was instructed to apply as much bend pressure as possible while a screen measured the torque. I managed about 60lbs. That was fun and good exercise.
Adjacent to the pressure measurement screen was what could only be described as an iPhone torture device. In it was an iPhone Air, balanced, face down on a mount, and two similar mounts were placed equidistant on the back. A technician turned on the machine, which proceeded to press the top mounts down on the iPhone Air.
I watched in horror as the phone bent at the center, giving way to a measured 133 lbs of pressure. I was riveted and repulsed (that poor phone). The technician released the pressure, and as the mounts pulled up, the phone returned to a perfectly flat frame. To prove it, they took the iPhone Air out of the machine, and it lay perfectly flat on the table.
(The video above closely matches what I saw in person and was provided by Apple with this caption: “iPhone Air exceeds Apple’s stringent bend strength requirements and is undamaged after undergoing an extreme level of force.”)
As Apple told me, the Air is more durable than any iPhone they’ve ever created, and now I’m inclined to agree with them.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
