The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were affected by a number of notable hardware-related issues, including but not limited to concerns surrounding their rigidity (which led to incidents surrounding chassis bending, as well as degradation or outright loss of touchscreen functionality), performance issues on models with larger storage capacity, camera problems on the 6 Plus model, as well as an initially undocumented "error 53" that appeared under certain circumstances.
Bendgate (chassis bending) Shortly after its public release, it was reported the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus chassis was susceptible to bending under pressure, such as when carried tightly in a user's pocket. While such issues are not exclusive to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the design flaw came to be known among users and the media as "
Bendgate". Apple responded to the bending allegations, stating they had only received nine complaints of bent devices and that the damage occurring due to regular use is "extremely rare." The company maintained the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus went through durability testing to ensure they would stand up to daily use. The company offered to replace phones that were bent if it is determined the bending was unintentional.
Hair ripping On October 3, 2014
9to5Mac released a post claiming certain iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users complained on social networking sites the phone ripped off their hair when they held the phone close to their ears when making phone calls.
Twitter users claimed the seam between the glass screen and aluminum back of the iPhone 6 was to blame, with hair becoming caught within it.
Flash storage performance Some users reported the 64 and 128 GB iPhone 6 models had experienced performance issues, and that some 128 GB iPhone 6 Plus models would, in rare cases, randomly crash and reboot.
Business Korea reported the issues were connected to the
triple-level cell NAND storage of the affected models. Triple-level NAND flash can store three bits of data per cell of flash, and are cheaper than dual-level cell solutions, but at the cost of performance. It was reported Apple had planned to switch the affected model lines back to multi-level cell flash, and address the performance issues on existing devices in a future iOS update.
iPhone 6/6 Plus camera issues It was reported the optical image stabilization systems on some iPhone 6 Plus models were faulty, failing to properly stabilize when the phone is being held perfectly still, leading to blurry photos and "wavy"-looking videos. The optical image stabilization system was also found to have been affected by accessories that use magnets, such as third-party lens attachments; Apple issued advisories to users and its licensed accessory makers, warning magnetic or metallic accessories can cause the OIS to malfunction. On August 21, 2015, Apple instituted a repair program for iPhone 6 Plus models released between September 2014 and January 2015, citing faulty rear cameras on affected models may produce blurry pictures. Some iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models have an issue in which the front-facing camera is somehow "shifted", or out of place. Apple stated they would replace most affected iPhone 6 models with this issue, free of charge. Despite numerous complaints regarding this issue, it does not seem to affect the camera itself. It is said the camera is not what has shifted, but a piece of protective foam around the camera module itself that has gone out of place.
"Error 53" If the iPhone 6 home button is repaired or modified by a third party, the device will fail security checks related to Touch ID as the components have not been "re-validated" for security reasons—a process that can only be performed by an authorized Apple outlet. Failing these checks disables all features related to Touch ID. Such effects have sometimes happened as a result of damage as well. On February 18, 2016, Apple released an iOS 9.2.1 patch through iTunes which addresses this issue and admitted error 53 was actually related to a diagnostic check for inspecting the Touch ID hardware before an iPhone is shipped from its factories.
Touchscreen failure ("touch disease") Touchscreen control components on iPhone 6
logic boards have insufficient support, including a lack of
underfill—which strengthens and stabilizes
integrated circuits, and a lack of rigid metal
shielding on the logic board unlike previous iPhone models; the touchscreen controller is instead shielded by a flexible "sticker". Normal use of the device can cause the logic board to flex internally, which strains the touchscreen IC connectors and leads to a degradation or outright loss of touchscreen functionality. A symptom that has been associated with this type of failure is a flickering grey bar near the top of the display.
iFixit reported this issue, nicknamed "touch disease", The issue received mainstream attention in August 2016 when reported by iFixit. On August 26, 2016,
Apple Insider reported based on data from four "high-traffic" Apple Store locations, there was a spike in the number of iPhone 6 devices brought into them for repairs following mainstream reports of the "touch disease" problem. On November 17, 2016, Apple officially acknowledged the issue and announced a paid repair program for affected iPhone 6 Plus models, stating; "some iPhone 6 Plus devices may exhibit display flickering or Multi-Touch issues after being dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then incurring further stress on the device". == Sales ==