bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Apple broke its silence on complaints about bending iPhones, hours after withdrawing a glitch-ridden software update as the company struggles to restore momentum to the rollout of its latest phones.
“With normal use, a bend in iPhone is extremely rare and through our first six days of sale, a total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in an email.
Apple shares closed down nearly 4 per cent at US$97.87 on Thursday, wiping out nearly US$23 billion in market value.
The new phones face criticism over their bendability, dubbed “bendgate”. Social media and online forums have been abuzz with comments about how the new phones can bend when placed in back pockets or while wearing skinny jeans.

Apple said its iPhones feature stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high-stress locations and use the strongest glass in the smartphone industry.
The only way an iPhone may have bent is if someone put it in their back pocket and sat on the phone for a very long time, said Laban Roomes, chief executive of Goldgenie, which customises and gold plates iPhones.

	It’s not game over for Apple, but nor should we give them a pass on this

	Alex Gauna, JMP Securities
Apple was also forced to withdraw a faulty update to its latest operating system after some users of its new phones complained of call service disruptions.
“We apologise for the great inconvenience experienced by users,” Muller said.
Apple said on its website it was working on an iOS update to fix the issue, and will release it in the next few days.
“I do believe this speaks to execution issues at Apple,” said JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna. “At the end of the day I believe this too shall pass, but we are noting with concern that the miscues pile up.”
Apple said on Monday it had shipped 10 million units of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also complained about the inability to use the fingerprint-reading Touch ID after updating to iOS 8.0.1.
Some users had complained of “sluggish Wi-fi and dwindling battery life” after moving to iOS 8, Time magazine reported earlier this week.
On Thursday, Apple issued a step-by-step guide for users to reinstall iOS 8, launched last week, through the latest version of iTunes. The health app will not work for now and will be fixed in the next software update, the company said.
Customers might, however, hope for replacements for their bent iPhones, depending on whether their devices passed an inspection, tech news website The Next Web reported, quoting an Apple support executive.
“It’s not game over for Apple, but nor should we give them a pass on this,” Gauna said.
Rival smartphone makers took digs at Apple’s problems.
A Samsung Electronics advertisement showcased a bending phone against its own product, while BlackBerry chief executive John Chen said: “I would challenge you guys to bend our Passport.”
Nestle SA’s Kit-Kat chocolate wafer brand tweeted “We don’t bend, we break”.


South Korea becomes second largest AI market for Google after Gemini 3 launch

How Trump stole the show at Davos and revived the WEF: ‘never been more relevant’

Apple slashes prices for Lunar New Year as competition heats up in mainland China

Huawei reclaims top spot over Apple in China smartphone market after chip breakthrough

Apple

Apple responds to iPhone 6 bending and software complaints

The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones face criticism over their bendability, dubbed “bendgate”. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Apple said on Monday it had shipped 10 million units of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Photo: Reuters

iPhone nightmares for Apple after phones bend and iOS update pulled

Models pose with the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Samsung Gear Watch, during Samsung's World Tour 2014 held at HKCEC in Wanchai. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Business

Companies

Apple broke its silence on complaints about bending iPhones, hours after withdrawing a glitch-ridden software update as the company struggles to restore momentum to the rollout of its latest phones.
