Consumer Reports says that the iPhone 15 Pro Max did not bend during its tests
We've seen the iPhone 15 Pro Max bend and break thanks to Zack Wilson and his JerryRigEverything video channel. Wilson couldn't get the smaller 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro to fold, however, so we can't blame the new titanium chassis for the new top-of-the-line iPhone model getting the bends. Perhaps even more interesting, Consumer Reports took the iPhone 15 Pro Max into its lab and got a different response from the phone than Zack did.
Consumer Reports dropped the iPhone 15 Pro Max multiple times and said that the device held up to these drops as well as any iPhone model did in the past, and any other top-shelf handset from other manufacturers. In a bending test, the iPhone 15 Pro Max also failed to give in to a 110-pound bending test. No cracks were discovered leaving Consumer Reports' senior director of product testing Maria Rerecich to say, "That shows it can take plenty of force. There is some flex in the phone that recovers when the force is released."
A separate iPhone 15 Pro Max was placed in a tumbler which is filled with rocks and simulates a waist-high fall onto concrete. After 50 drops, the phone was checked for damage. The phone was then dropped 50 more times. Consumer Reports says, "What we found in our labs contrasts with a series of videos from online reviewers that showed the glass breaking in improvised drop and bending scenarios, at times resulting in a web of cracks across the back of the phone."
After 100 drops in the tumbler, an iPhone 15 Pro Max owned by Consumer Reports suffered only minor scratches.
Consumer Reports says that its testing is not yet completed and is still conducting its rain and water-resistance tests, along with camera and battery tests. But with videos taking shots at the strength of the iPhone 15 Pro Max's build, it seems that Consumer Report felt compelled to tell its side of the story. It also mentioned that while writing another article on the phone, one of the two iPhone 15 Pro Max units it bought from a retail store for its tests tumbled onto "rocky ground" not once, but twice. The phone did not suffer one scratch.
The magazine mentioned #Bendgate which took place in September 2014 just after the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were released. A report claimed that some iPhone 6 Plus models were bending after being placed in the user's front pocket. Back in 2014, Consumer Reports used the same machine that it employed in 2023 to test the iPhone 15 Pro Max to determine that both 2014 iPhone models could withstand a "reasonable" amount of force.
Just like in 2014, Consumer Reports says that its tests revealed no concerns with the latest top-of-the-line iPhone model. Back in 2014, that was the iPhone 6 Plus. Today, it's the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
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