The consumer technology industry generally follows a few rules when it comes to developing new products: faster, thinner and (often) bigger. But the push toward increasingly svelte devices has a clear end point: No device can become thinner forever before running into the obvious challenges posed by physics and daily use.
Earlier this month Apple wowed the world with its new line of iPhones, both of which are larger and thinner than the previous versions. And consumers can't get enough of them: 10 million phones were sold last weekend, breaking the previous record set last year by the iPhone 5S and 5C.
And SquareTrade, an electronics insurance company, found the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to besturdier than most phones both in drop tests and water resistance.
But some users of Apple's new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are finding that their superslim glass and aluminum devices aren't holding up well in a less harsh environment: their pockets . Under the combined stress of human weight and a pair of tight pants, the phones are bending, usually around the volume buttons where the aluminum casing is thinnest.
What is to blame? The fashion trend toward skinnier and skinnier pants? The technology trend toward slimmer and wider devices?
