Wondering if Apple will replace your bent iPhone 6 Plus?
The new iPhones have been out for barely a week, and some users have already found out that the larger screen iPhone 6 Plus is prone to warping, especially if its place in a pocket for an extended period of time.
After the news broke, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, invited The Verge to their testing facility, and said that the iPhone 6 Plus bending is “extremely rare to happen in real world use.”
Schiller advised customers to visit an Apple store if they face the bending problem.
“In this case, as in many things, we tell customers that if you think something’s occurred that shouldn’t have with your device, go to AppleCare, go to the Genius Bar, and let them take a look at it.
“And we'll see if your product is having an experience it shouldn’t have, and is covered under warranty,” Schiller added.
But is a bent phone covered under Apple warranty?
The Next Web asked Apple support chat if a “bent enclosure occurring during normal use fit under the warranty,” and the Apple representative replied:
“That is 100 percent up to the Genius you speak with at the store. There is a test called a Visual Mechanical Inspection that the device will have to pass. If it is within the guidelines, they will be able to cover it. If not, the replacement would be a paid one.”
So what is this Visual Mechanical Inspection?
After some searching, CNET found a 2012 document called “iPhone Visual/Mechanical Inspection Guide” on the blog site iClarified.
According to the document, the iPhone warranty will cover “failures caused solely by manufacturing defects,” but “catastrophic damage caused by abuse and interoperability caused by installation of unauthorized software is not serviceable.”
Going by that definition, it seems that the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus bent when left in your pocket, it should qualify for replacement.
However, should you deliberately bend your iPhone like Lewis Hilsenteger from Unboxed Therapy does in his “bend tests,” it would likely count as “abuse,” and will not be covered under warranty.
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