Apple Bend-Gate 2, iPad Pro Edition

Once again, it is Apple vs. physics. In an outcome shocking absolutely no one, physics wins, again.

We learned something about huge smartphones that were shaped like small surfboards. They bend when you put stress on them in just the right way. This is what happens when we demand everything be ever thinner, lighter, and larger at the same time. The iPhone 6+ taught Apple a lesson they would never forget. Well, until they forgot it and made the 2018 iPad Pro.

One of the most dramatic parts of the iPad Pro promo video was when the voice of Apple marketing VP Phil Schiller demonstrated the insane thinness of the product. “Thinner! No, even thinner!” he insisted, as a person’s fingers drew ever closer together. They finally stopped at 5.9 mm.

Right on cue, someone comes along and performs a bend test on YouTube. Also on cue, the Verge takes it seriously, declaring “Apple’s new iPad Pro seems to bend pretty easily.”

“A new video from YouTube channel JerryRigEverything shows that Apple’s latest iPad Pro can be bent and completely destroyed seemingly without much exertion. The tablet gave out quickly when host Zack Nelson performed his signature bend test, cracking down the middle near the microphone hole on the tablet’s left side and the Apple Pencil’s magnetic charging area on the right.”

The only surprising thing is that anyone would take it seriously. As for the YouTuber, this is his schtick. He does this with everything, not just Apple products. It’s funny in a sick, twisted, you should probably see a therapist kind of way. That is the type of humor it is intended to be.

But for the record, the video does provide fair warning. If you apply a sharp blade to the weak points on either long edge of the iPad Pro, cut away any metal support there is, hold it with both hands by the ends, press your thumbs in the center, then apply the right kind of force, your iPad will bend like cardboard. In the event you plan to do this, you should know that damage is not covered by any version of Apple Care.

There are a handful of other ways to bend an iPad. You could sit on it. You could lean your elbows on it. You could put it in an excessively taut backpack and lean back against a hard surface.

There is no doubt that some small number of people have managed to bend their new devices. That said, the internet is full of stories of people who accidentally bent other tablets like the Microsoft Surface.

The only reason some other tablets don’t get these types of videos is because no one would even bother to click on a video with someone destroying an Amazon Kindle Fire or a Samsung Galaxy Tab. Also, there aren’t enough of them in the wild for people to accidentally bend.

As long as Apple keeps making new products, a certain segment of the market will always be there to ask if it will blend, or in this case, bend.