Apple Confirms iPad Pros Are Bent, Says It's Normal - ExtremeTech

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Apple’s iPad has undergone its most radical redesign in years with the new iPad Pros. These tablets are thinner than ever with less bezel around the display. However, there are questions as to whether they’re durable enough. Some owners have complained about slight bends in their spendy new tablets, and now Apple confirms some iPad Pros are indeed bent out of the box. However, it says that’s normal. Welcome to Bendgate 2.0.

In the weeks since Apple shipped the updated iPad Pro, multiple users of the Macrumors forum have posted images of their new tablets with unusual bends in the frame. Some say they developed the curve through regular use like being transported in a backpack while others insist they came like that out of the box.

Apple now admits that, yes, some iPads are bent. The company says the cooling process involving the tablet’s metal and plastic housing can cause slight warping. However, Apple does not consider this a defect. It claims the bend will not get worse over time, and it does not affect the functionality of the tablet. Still, if you spend $800 to $1,900 on a tablet, you’d probably want it to be unbent.

Many iPad owners have suspected something was amiss ever since YouTube channel JerryRigEverything posted a bend test of the new iPad Pro. The video shows the iPad Pro’s glass is extremely thin, and the position of the inductive charging cutout for the Apple Pencil leaves a probably weak spot in the middle of the tablet. And wouldn’t you know, it doesn’t seem to take much force at all to bend the iPad Pro in half, utterly destroying it. Usually, the glass screen on a phone or tablet is a source of structural strength for the bendable aluminum, but it appears to be too thin on the iPad Pro.

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Apple says it stands behind the durability of the iPad Pro, but we’ve heard that before. The thin aluminum of the iPhone 6 made those phones easier to bend, and that contributed to so-called “Touch Disease” in the iPhone 6 Plus. Those bends also got worse over time, but Apple swears up and down that won’t happen this time. No one would blame you for being skeptical of that claim. If you get a bent iPad out of the box, it’s probably smart to return it. A rigid case will keep your iPad Pro from folding in half, too.

Top image credit: Macrumors Forum

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