Consumer Reports: The iPhone 6 Plus doesn't really bend easily

Apple's response to reports of bending iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phones was that "with normal use," bending iPhones "is extremely rare." Maybe you don't trust Apple on this, but Consumer Reports actually agrees. The viral video of that guy bending the iPhone 6 Plus with his bare hands, and all the other reports, were "highly unscientific," Consumer Reports says, and "we don't like unscientific."

"Consumer Reports wanted to bring some science to the matter," explains electronics editor Glenn Derene in the video below. He and his colleagues tested an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, LG G3, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, HTC One, and an iPhone 5, using a "three-point flexural" test. "It turns out, it takes a lot of force to permanently bend one of these new iPhones," Derene says.

How much force? For the iPhone 6 and similarly large HTC One, both of which bent fairly easily, it took 70 pounds of force to permanently deform the device. The iPhone 6 Plus actually fared better, permanently bending at 90 pounds, followed by the LG G3 and iPhone 5 at 130 pounds and the Galaxy Note 3 at 150 pounds. Except for the Galaxy Note and LG, the phones continued working for another 20-30 pounds of pressure, before the screen separated from the case.

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"While nothing is (evidently) indestructible," Consumer Reports concludes, "we expect that any of these phones should stand up to typical use." Point, Apple. Watch the wanton destruction of smartphones below. --Peter Weber