Bendgate: Is the iPhone 6 too bendy, or are your skinny jeans just too skinny?

First there was the iPhone 4 Antennagate. Then there was the iPhone 5 Scuffgate. And now, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, there is Bendgate.
Yes, it seems Apple’s all-aluminium design can’t withstand the truly awesome stresses of being placed in the front pocket of a pair of skinny jeans. Numerous owners of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are reporting that their new phones have developed a noticeable bend or kink after being placed in a pants pocket. This isn’t people sitting on their phones, either: A tight front pocket, plus the curvature of your thigh, is enough to bend the new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.
Furthermore, to prove that these bent iPhones aren’t just freak accidents caused by overly tight pockets, a crop of “bend test” videos (embedded below) have popped up on YouTube over the last 24 hours.
In most cases, these iPhones aren’t bending enough to break them — though presumably, over time, repeated bending will cause serious damage

Design flaw, or just frothingly vehement Apple fans?

At this point, it’s pretty clear that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are indeed bendable. What we don’t know is if this is a design flaw, or if the issue is being blown out of proportion by the huge volume of new (and very passionate) iPhone 6 owners. Remember, there are now 10 million owners of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus who are spending a significant portion of their waking hours admiring and fondling their shiny new slice of Apple magic. All it takes is one iPhone 6 owner to report a slight unplanned curvature, and suddenly millions of other owners are looking for the same problem.
Putting aside such sociological concerns for now — I’m not a sociologist — let’s focus on whether the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have a design flaw or not.

A bent Sony Xperia Z1

For a start, bent phones are not a new phenomenon. The iPhone 5 and 5S both had a tendency to bend if you sat down with them in your rear pocket. The Sony Xperia Z1, which has a metal frame, has also been known to bend. Basically, if you look hard enough, most metal-bodied phones have been known to bend.
This might come as a shock to some of you, but metal bends — and specifically, the cheap, thin, and light metal that is used to make some smartphones (aluminium) is very bendy. This is actually one advantage of using plastic instead of metal: If you apply enough force to bend solid aluminium, it stays bent; plastic, on the other hand, is elastic and bends back into its original shape (assuming you don’t break the elastic limit and snap the plastic, of course — but modern thermoplastics are very tough).