Bendgate reloaded – Samsung Galaxy S6 unlikely to bend in your pocket

Remember all the bendgate craziness that was surrounding the iPhone 6 Plus last year? Well, it’s back, although on a somewhat smaller scale. This time around we have the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge at the center of the controversy. A recent Youtube video posted by Square Trade showcases a test involving the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and HTC One M9, all of which are showed to bend and eventually break completely when a certain amount of pressure is being exerted on them. The video apparently wants to convince us that we’re looking at bendgate 2 or worse, but Samsung claims otherwise.

In response to the video by Square Trade, the Korean tech giant has released its own video showing a very similar test being done on both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Samsung doesn’t deny that its new smartphones can end up bending, but clarifies that one would need to use a very high amount of pressure in order to do so. In the bendgate 2 video posted by Square Trade we see the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge reaching its bending point at about 110lbf and breaking completely at around 149. That’s all fine and dandy, but Samsung says that “the normal force that’s generated when a person presses the back pocket is approximately 66lbf (30kgf),” so there’s no real reason to worry about yet another bendgate.

As for the company’s own test, the video uploaded by Samsung yesterday proves that both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge can easily withstand 80lbf and continue to work like nothing happened. Samsung also says that this is one of the most common tests conducted on their devices while they’re in development, so the results are definitely not a coincidence. As much as Square Trade seems to want to ignite another bendgate scandal, Samsung’s own test reveals that the two flagships are pretty resistant and are very unlikely to bend under normal circumstances. Naturally, if someone tries to bend them on purpose they will eventually succeed, but that doesn’t mean that we’re looking at bendgate 2 here.