Neil Hughes
After Samsung poked fun at Apple's iPhone 6 for the so-called "bendgate" controversy, the South Korean electronics maker is now in the midst of its own public relations crisis, and has been forced to respond to a video showing its new Galaxy S6 Edge bending and breaking.
In a post to the company's official blog, Samsung said that all of its devices go through "high-quality validation tests" before they are shipped to consumers. The tests include dropping, bending, and breakage of the device.
"We are confident that all our smartphones are not bendable under daily usage," the company said in a statement.
Samsung also included its own video demonstrating a three-point bend test on both the newly released Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. The statement and video are in response to findings from SquareTrade publicized last week, in which the company found that the Galaxy S6 Edge is susceptible to bending — and shattering — under 110 pounds of pressure.
The iPhone 6 Plus was also found to bend under that same amount of pressure, but unlike the Galaxy S6 Edge, Apple' 5.5-inch phone did not shatter.
But Samsung feels the tests conducted by SquareTrade were not fair, as the company said 110 pounds of pressure "rarely occurs under normal circumstances." Samsung also said that the test conducted by SquareTrade "does not show the strength of the back side."
Samsung said it will deliver its statement to SquareTrade, and will ask them to conduct the stress test again to target both the front and back sides of the device.
The efforts to get its own "bendgate" controversy under control come after Samsung itself ran an ad campaign last year, in which it showed its Galaxy Note 4 handset surviving a series of bend tests. That commercial ended with the tag "The Galaxy NOte 4 is big, thin and light but strong."
Hit by the initial "bendgate" claims last fall, Apple allowed members the press to take a rare tour of an iPhone test facility to address the issue. There, journalists were shown the normally off-limits "torture test" building where Apple's devices are exposed to a battery of durability assessments.
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Charles Martin
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53 Comments
I'll bet they're just reprinting Apple's test results...
Samsung should have kept quiet. Now they made things worse. - Insulting Squaretrade by claiming their testing is only to "satisfy sadistic pleasures"? - Claiming 66lbs is a normal force exerted when sitting on a phone? Does that stay the same for someone who weighs 100, 150 or 200 lbs? Is it the same when sitting on a soft couch (cushions) vs a hard wooden chair or bench? - Using pencils as a prop? Seriously, can't you come up with anything original? - Talking about the phones strength on both sides to deflect from the issue at hand? What next, telling people to put the phone in your pocket one way because the phone is stronger in that direction? - Using the same 3-point bend test? Samsung just pissed on all the fanboys/apologists who say a 3-point bend test is not a proper way to check a phone as it doesn't simulate "real world" use. This would have blown over in a few days. Now it's a news story and will show how pathetic Samsung is when faced with criticism.
Forgot one more. Haters claim the iPhone 6 bends at 70lbs at the volume buttons. Samsung says 66lbs is what a phone is subjected to when sitting. Samsung just stated the iPhone 6 can't bend in your pocket.
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/185605/samsung-fighting-off-its-own-bendgate-controversy-says-galaxy-s6-not-bendable-in-normal-daily-use#post_2704757"]After Samsung poked fun at Apple's iPhone 6 for the so-called "bendgate" controversy, the South Korean electronics maker is now in the midst of its own public relations crisis, and has been forced to respond to a video showing its new Galaxy S6 Edge bending and breaking. [/quote] So far, only 9 have been returned...
Choke on it, Sammy. You made your bed, now sleep in it.